After the Ball
by Flying-Bronco
Summary: After the Jellicle ball, Macavity seeks revenge on a certain black cat.However Mistoffelees is exhausted and suffering anyway, in his weak position can anyone help him before its too late...Lots of capture on Macavity's part (rated for later chapters)
1. After the Ball

It was just getting lighter when the Jellicles finally lay down to rest in the junkyard. The Jellicle ball had died down a few hours before and everyone had just seemed to release themselves from the buzzing feeling they felt during the ball. Now in the dim light of sunrise cats had retreated into pipes, boxes, trunks of cars, and anywhere else they could find to shelter themselves from the morning chill. Two cats were sleeping soundly in an old half crushed car boot. Munkustrap, a grey and black striped tom lay in a curve protectively around his new found romance, a beautiful queen with brilliant eyes and sharp features; Demeter. Munkustap's body was scratched and bruised in places where he had fought the Jellicle's largest enemy Macavity, however his fur still shone with cleanliness and after Demeter had insisted on treating them, Munkustrap's wounds had felt considerably better and so it was decided that he just needed to sleep it off, just like everyone else.

Outside the car boot numerous cats had hid themselves in various nooks and crannies, the older cats seeking the warmer spots while the younger ones grouping together instead, only one cat slept alone. Mistoffelees. This small predominantly black cat had the strange and most unique markings of what any human would call a tux (with a white under belly, paws, and almost glimmering finish), and since very recently was called Quaxo- his 3rd name has been announced as Mistoffelees during his act in the Jellicle ball where he had used his gift to bring back their leader Old Deuteronomy from Macavity.

Mistoffelees shifted his position trying to protect himself from the bitter weather that seemed to slice through his coat, sending constant waves of shivers down his spine. His chosen place of living, a small damp pipe did nothing to prevent or shelter the small tom in any way, adding to that the extreme drain both physically and mentally his magic did to his body, Mistoffelees was not in good shape. In fact, it was a miracle he had managed to drag himself away from the other cats congratulating him before collapsing in a rather ungraceful heap away from prying eyes- Mistoffelees never wanted people to see him like this for he was a small cat for his age already and other young toms his age such as Pouncival and Tumblebrutus would often tease him about this, he did not want them to think him weak as well. Instead he hoped the sick freezing feeling would go away before the others would come and find him, "Probably want me to do magic for them," Mistoffelees thought tiredly as he closed his eyes tightly willing himself to sleep.

Outside the Junkyard, many miles away in an abandoned office building, Macavity padded the floors, still furious with his plans being thwarted once again. The ginger cat was very tall and thin; however his matted long hair hid that fact and gave him the look of a miniature lion. His coat was dusty but still showed the dramatic markings that only Macavity could pull off, they, along with his frighteningly long claws were his trademark. The reason for this outraged mood he was in (Macavity decided) was that little black tom he had noticed at the Jellicle Ball. He knew that he had been the one to bring back Old Deuteronomy from his clutches; he had been the one to make the Napoleon of crime look like an amateur, and so he would be the one to pay. Macavity did not care to seek direct revenge on his brothers in the tribe. The Rum Tum Tugger had not even been there when he had attacked, as the ginger cat knew that his laid back brother didn't care for fighting or indeed anything that wasn't centred on him. His youngest brother Alonzo has proved himself a nuisance at the Ball, sticking up for his tribe by confronting him after he had defeated his older brother Munkustrap. They would all pay in time, but for now his main obsession was concentrated on Mistoffelees…

"Grumbuskin!" Macavity barked. A fearsome looking cat with dark tabby brown tip to toe colourings and a round black patch covering his left eye entered the room cautiously, careful not to have his back facing Macavity- he knew that was always a bad idea.

"Yes sir?" Grumbuskin enquired, standing just a few feet away from his boss. Macavity glared at his 2nd in command and replied, "That magical cat, Mistoffelees." Grumbuskin nodded and growled lowly in distaste at the mentioned name. Macavity went on, "I want him. I want you to get him out of that junkyard and bring him back here, relatively unspoiled," he stopped for effect, "but have some fun with the others if you like." The two cats spoke for a little longer on tactics and weaknesses of the tribe before the huge Grumbuskin took his leave to round up the strays who worked for Macavity.

Mid morning came to the junkyard and most of the cats who resided there were up and about. Munkustrap had departed early with Alonzo to travel across town. They were worried for their father and leader Old Deuteronomy's safety after Macavity's latest attack. As they would be gone for most part of the day Skimbleshanks had been assigned as watcher over the tribe while Plato was also at hand to help, he was known to be quite a skilled fighter and protector-looked up to by the kittens.

The magical cat groggily opened his eyes and shivered, his pipe still contained a puddle at the bottom of it, making his side damp. He could hear voices and movement right outside and judged that most, if not all the others were up. Testing his strength, he decided to get up and head straight for the bonnet of the rusty car in hopes of drying off.

The weather was boiling to say the least. It was probably the hottest day in the year decided Mistoffelees as he left his pipe to feel a rush of hot air hit his face. Rushing across the middle of the junkyard, many cats ignored him. He reached the car and used his limited energy to bound up onto the flat surface. The metal was baking and the young cat liked it. He set himself down into a tight ball and instantly fell fast asleep. Midday came and the sun was not showing signs of terminating its attack upon the Jellicle home. Skimbleshanks had claimed that 'it was far too hot for any of the kits to be out for too long' so a few adult cats had been gathered to keep watch for any kittens who would stray out for too long, heat exhaustion was a worry which the Jellicle Gumbie cat Jennyanydots pointed out regularly. But when did the inquisitive mind of the kitten ever listen to its elders? Etcetera, Electra, Victoria, and Jemima were prancing about, closely watched by Tumblebrutus, and Pouncival. The two brother toms were happy to sit and watch the equally young queens frolic together whilst making comments on who they found the most attractive.

"Well I think Etcetera is alright," Pouncivil mused, peering from under the shade given by the tire shadow.

"If you could ever tear her away from her dearest Tugger," Tumblebrutus joked, doing a poor impression of The Rum Tum Tugger while his brother rolled around in uncontrollable laughter, many of the dozing cats around them glanced up, visibly annoyed at the loud interference. Bombalurina yelled from her comfortable lounging position,

"Could you two squirts keep it down, some of us are trying to get some sleep here! It's hot as it is without you two making anyone any more hassled!" The beautiful red queen turned back over to further herself away from the sun but spied The Rum Tum Tugger finally rising from an incredibly long sleep. His thin albeit well muscled tone frame, large mane like hair and laid back nature was extremely attractive to the female cats and most of them would follow him about mindlessly when he chose to make an appearance, and, his craving for attention meant he was about often, when he wasn't sleeping or 'generally up to no good' as his older brother Munkustrap would describe it.

Of course, due to The Tugger's popularity among the girls, he had weak bonds with any of the toms. They did respect him for his unique gift of "wooing" (if you could call it that) and some of the younger toms would sometimes follow him to learn his techniques, however he was not at all a fighter and whenever the tribe was in trouble, he would always make himself scarce until the immediate trouble was over, then, bringing everyone together at the end, he would always find a way to redeem himself (much like he did the night before at the Jellicle Ball when he sang for Mistoffelees). In truth he had only one close friend whom he could actually talk to. Many cats did not notice this particular bond, either being too wrapped up in their own bonds with The Rum Tum Tugger, or just plain ignoring the other tom. This cat that could to certain extent calm down the rogue Tugger was the one the only Magical Mr Mistoffelees.

Pouncival snickered as Bombalurina literally let her rant die in her mouth, her frown turned into a broad sexy smile, and the Tugger approached with his usual swaying strut. Besides him, Pouncival's brother turned away with a slight twinge of jealously on his brown and white patched face. It was known only to Pouncival that Tumblebrutus had an obsession with the beauty queen of the tribe.

After flirting somewhat with Bombalurina, The Rum Tum Tugger brushed her off to make his daily rounds in the junkyard. The heat caused him to become unusually short tempered.

"TUGGER!" a shriek ripped through the humid air and in the next moment, The Rum Tum Tugger found a small body come into contact with his own. He glanced down and found Etcetera hugging him possessively; close behind, Electra, Victoria, and Jemima were flashing innocent smiles. He gave her a wink and teasingly slipped out of her grasp, sending her to the floor. She did a small roll and positioned herself around his legs, rubbing her lovingly against his thighs. Electra moved towards him, followed by Victoria. They all swooned around him causing the unbearable heat to finally get too much for the curious cat.

"Ladies, ladies. I would LOVE to stay here with you beautiful queens, but y'know I have interesting things to do, important people to annoy," he at once thought of Munkustrap, "where is my dearest brother anyway?"

"Munkustrap and Alonzo left early to see Old Deuteronomy," Victoria replied airily.

"To see if he was ok after, well, you know, yesterday," Electra added in a hasted manner, her attention on the tom's flicking tail.

Tugger's heart dropped. His brothers hadn't asked him to go along with them to see his dad? He replaced the thought with a new one that he wouldn't have wanted to be dragged out of bed early just to go all the way across town to find that his father was dozing peacefully on the vicarage wall as he did everyday anyway.

"In this heat, they must be mad," he reasoned more to himself than the crowding kits around him, but somehow he couldn't shake the feeling of being deliberately left out. Stepping over Etcetera he shook off the others and retreated to a broken washing machine. He lay sprawled out on the top in view of everybody, basking in the heat, but the majority of beams were hitting the middle and other side of the yard. Now and again he would open his eye very slightly to see if his fan group were still watching him intently-they were. Now and again he would shift his position slightly, flexing his muscles or arching his back to make out like he was getting more comfortable. In reality he still wanted to show off, and his fans below him reacted as he suspected, with shrieking glee.

It was this particular noise which startled Mistoffelees awake. He felt his coat dry but dangerously hot against the metal bonnet- it was now he was awake, quite painful to be laying in such direct sunlight. He sat up. His vision swam. All that could be made out to Mistoffelees was a small greyish blur making its way toward him… Mistoffelees shook his head slightly and instantly regretted it.

Jemima sighed to herself and turned her head away from the direction of The Rum Tum Tugger's poses. She had spied movement to her right and found that Mistoffelees had woken up.

"That's funny," she thought, "I had not noticed him there before."

Bored with sitting in the sun watching The Rum Tum Tugger, she began to make her way toward Mistoffelees in hopes of him entertaining the tribe with more of his new found magic which was so unbelievably amazing she thought. However as she neared the car on which he was laying, she saw that his face was twisted in a grimace and his eyes seemed to be unfocused. She sped up to ask if he was ok and that he shouldn't stay in the sun for much longer, when he shook his head as if trying to rid himself of a headache. There was a slight pause in which Jemima saw the look of sickness on the magical cat's face and then suddenly he gave a soft moan and fell ungracefully off the car and onto the dusty floor below.

Jemima raced forward and called his name, "Mistoffelees…Mistoffelees?" Still no answer, "Quaxo?" she tried his former name to see if he was responding to anything else. Nothing. The smallest kitten nudged him slightly and he moaned again, but he looked to have fainted, so she glanced about in a panic for help. There was no need to call out for practically the whole population of cats awake in the yard had seen the event unfold (it had happened in the middle of the junkyard you see) and many rushed forward to help the fallen cat.

First there was, to Jemima's surprise, The Rum Tum Tugger. She had seen him sprint to the car and skid to an abrupt halt, Victoria, Electra, and Etcetera following behind, worried looks crossed all their faces. He briefly turned to Jemima to ask what had exactly.

"He just woke up and then looked like he was going to be sick. Then he just, fell." Jemima explained, becoming more scared by The Tugger's serious tone of voice. Quickly joining the crowd was Skimbleshanks, Ademetus, Bombalurina, and Demeter. Coricopat and Tantomile, in total sync with each other moved slowly towards the commotion, surveying the situation silently. Somehow these twins-identical black and white fully grown cats, a tom and a queen had a mental bond with each other, which enabled them to understand each other without talking. A rumour around the cat world was that they were owned by a witch. They rarely came to the junkyard as their home was situated out of town and they preferred solidarity, however they always managed to appear before an important happening occurred-as if they knew something was going to take place.

The Rum Tum Tugger rolled his younger friend over and to his distress found that he was sweating profusely and that his coat was hot to the touch. A sudden thought occurred to him that he may have a fever but when Electra had tried to climb on the car bonnet, she had leapt away as if it had scalded her, it confirmed to him that he had been sitting up in the sun for way too long. Kneeling down to gently pat the white face of Mistoffelees he heard Skimbleshanks give the order to Ademetus to call for the Scottish cat of the railway's mate Jennyanydots. A minute later, with still no reply from Mistoffelees, Jennyannydots bustled forwards.

"Out of the way dears. No crowding please! Poor Quaxo does not need anyone huddling round, its too hot, move away. Rum Tum Tugger, please go and make yourself useful by keeping the kittens occupied. Demeter fetch me some water if you would dear."

At these barks of orders, the cats scattered. Demeter rushed off to find cool water for her fainted friend while Skimbleshanks and Ademetus carried the small tom to a shady spot amongst the junk, Jemima, now quite upset by the drama ran off to a secluded part of the Jellicle home and the other female kittens followed her to comfort their friend, leaving The Rum Tum Tugger again feeling rather left out and useless.

He turned and ruffled his mane ready to sulk off and hide so he could watch how Mistoffelees was doing when Tantomile and Coricopat approached him. They both looked up at the taller rogue cat after sparing each other a look.

Moving his paws to his loosely hanging belt at his hips he pushed his weight onto the back legs and gave them a tired albeit quizzical look. Tantomile started the conversation,

"We believe you know Mistoffelees more than anyone."

"We believe that he knows you more than anyone"

"We also believe that no one knows about this unusual friendship, so we decided to talk to you alone," Tantomile started the sentence and Coricopat finished in the dramatic whisper they chose to talk in. What disturbed The Tugger was not the uncanny ability for the twins to finish each others sentences, but the fact that they knew of Mistoffelees' and his bond, he felt unsafe and unsure on his reply.

"Yeah, so what if I speak to him now n' then. Is it really important? He has just fainted you know," he replied flatly

The twins nodded together, obviously ignoring the rude way in which they were being spoken to. "Has he ever spoken to you about his magic?" Coricopat asked. The Rum Tum Tugger shook his head. True he had told him before the ball about his talents, thus the Tugger introduced him in his song as 'The Magical Mr Mistoffelees' a cute nickname he thought, but other than that, Mistoffelees had kept quite secretive about it. "Quaxo was young when he became Mistoffelees the magical cat, he is still young now, and his power is extremely strong. We can feel it restless within him. When performing any magic, it proves to be a great strain upon him." Tantomile picked up from here, "After bringing back Old Deuteronomy we could sense a weakness in him, a dangerous level of tiredness and yet he still kept upright till the very end of the Ball."

"So what are you trying to say? He shouldn't do magic anymore?" Tugger asked.

"Magic is a part of him, he cannot simply give it up," Coricopat answered.

"However it is a dangerous power he deals with, which drains him both mentally and physically after he uses it. That is why he fainted today, along with the heat."

The Rum Tum Tugger frowned, "What is he gonna do then, he has to do magic but he will faint every time he does! That's ridiculous!" His suspicious glare he gave the cats formed into an irritated one and he turned to leave. Coricopat and Tantomile gave each other a look and said together,

"He is in great danger." Then they turned and left the junkyard. The Rum Tum Tugger stopped in his tracks and spun around to witness the pair leave without a fuss, no doubt to return to their home-many cats with secure homes did and tended to visit the junkyard instead of live there. What exactly did they mean by that? A sudden wave of worry swept over him and he rushed to find Jennanydots.


	2. Stormy happenings

At the Ball

I can't express how unbelievably happy I am to find that my first CATS fanfiction turned out to be successful in the fact that I actually got a response from a few people! I would like to express my extreme thanks to Jemima-luvah (thanks for your review), Roman de la Croix (don't worry I will keep on writing as long as I can!), Mystitat (I hope you enjoy the rest of the story), and Krissy4 (thank you for your review, I was hoping to portray Mistoffelees quite differently, so tell me what you think!)

A few strays had banded together, Macavity's finest force with Grumbuskin leading them. The group consisted of only a small number of fully grown toms who (before Macavity had 'taken them under his wing') all had lived rather dangerous and rough lives out on the streets. As the group sat together Macavity smiled confidently from his podium, each cat had a speciality; Grumbuskin was well known for his pure strength, fighting skills, and effective leadership techniques. He led 6 cats in total, though only 3 of these were highly thought of in the stray world. Vincent was fully black with dazzling green eyes which seemed to pierce you with fear. His colourings meant that he was effective in kidnapping and sneaking about in the dark. He was seen as the spy of the group. Stories of a mysterious creature lurking in the shadows, only a bright pair of eyes haunting you if you were unlucky enough to be caught alone at night was a story told by mothers as a method of keeping her kittens quiet. It was a myth, however, if this terrifying story was based on any cat it would have to of been Vincent. Lounging behind him lay two larger cats, both sporting similar tabby markings. They were known as Wiskucat and Furrocat, inseparable brothers who had been taken in by Macavity at a young age. Furrowcat sported a torn ear and a long scar running over his right eye which stopped abruptly at his black nose, his build was stocky and muscular- "a real fighter cat," Macavity had described him as once. Wiskucat was taller and less ferocious looking, but had slanted eyes and hair that pointed in an unruly fashion, giving the impression that he was quite insane. And Wiskucat was known to have a rather unsteady past. Though he was seen as mad, Wiskucat was in fact very much a laid back cat. In a fight he was always the one circling the competition before rushing in (this is what made him very different to his brother).

The other 3 cats were young and keen, but not necessarily inexperienced. They were but a few of Macavity's nameless strays, who were content just to follow his orders and were really only good for providing strength in the group.

"You know what we're going for, and what we're going to come back with," Grumbuskin lectured. "However there will be no cat here that will enter the Junkyard. Macavity wants the conjurer and not a full on fight." There was a wave of groaning from the audience, "not yet, anyway."

"How are we supposed to catch this runt if we can't enter the junkyard?" enquired Wiskucat. It was at that point that Macavity himself leapt from where he was sitting and interrupted, the others looked up in surprise at this entrance. They hadn't even known Macavity was there. He held a sly grin on his face but was otherwise unreadable.

"Are you tense when you sense there's a storm in the air?" he recited from the Jellicle song. The strays shook their head, utterly bewildered. "I thought not. Well I may not be a Jellicle cat, but I do know that those storm clouds," he motioned to the large blackened clouds hanging over the edge of the city, "will mean that there is one." The cats still appeared confused, why would a storm affect the junkyard. If anything, it would mean that the Jellicle's would hide away in their holes-safe. The grin on Macavity's face widened and Grumbuskin figured that he knew something he didn't.

"How is he?" The Rum Tum Tugger asked, easily peering over the shorter Jennyanydots to catch a glimpse of his friend. Jennyanydots gave The Rum Tum Tugger a stern look and ushered his protesting form out of the shade. She did not seem to think that Mistoffelees needed him to be around. It was bad luck really. Tugger had managed to build a rather strong impression for the older cats of the tribe. Jennyanydots and the others saw him as a young rebellious rascal who had yet to find his stride and settle down into the easiness of life. He had often brushed this off without thought when Jennyanydots or Jellyorum would yell at him for being a bad influence on the kittens. It never occurred to him that now, when he was deadly serious, he would be denied to see if a fellow Jellicle was recovering well.

"I am sorry Tugger, but I cannot allow you to see Mistoffelees at this time. He does not need you to drag him into any pranks you may have up your sleeves. He hasn't even woken up yet!"

'What high opinions she has of me.'

"Aw come on Jenny, I just want to see how he's doin'. No pranks," Tugger gave her a cheeky wink, "I promise". Inside he was far from cheerful. Jennyanydots shook her head sternly, "that charm of yours won't work on me Rum Tum Tugger. Now shoo, Mistoffelees should recover soon". The Rum Tum Tugger turned to go when a shaky voice interrupted his departure,

"It's ok Jennyanydots. I feel much better now." The voice was that of Mistoffelees, he had just woken up and felt in himself much stronger, but could feel the unpleasant after effects of sunstroke. Jennyanydots at once left Tugger's side and offered the conjuring cat a drink of water. He accepted and drank the lot quickly, then got up and assured the Gumbie cat that the heat was just too much for his absorbent black coat and that from now on he would stay in the shade. She hesitantly moved aside and rose her eyebrow, unimpressed as The Rum Tum Tugger winked again and flashed his trademark smile, before leaving after Mistoffelees.

Outside, The Rum Tum Tugger found that Mistoffelees had already made it half way to his pipe. It meant that the large tom cat had to run to catch up with him. He gently tapped the black and white tom on the shoulder.

Mistoffelees turned round, secretly embarrassed and very tired. He didn't feel like talking to anyone but his friend Tugger was making it obvious that he wanted to talk, and to his surprise he turned to find that The Rum Tum Tugger gave him an uncharacteristically swift smile.

"I'm fine Tugger, before you ask," Mistoffelees stated, looking up into the face of the taller cat. The Rum Tum Tugger did not seem convinced. Instead he replied with something Mistoffelees was definitely not expecting.

"Why didn't you tell me that you get sick from using your powers!?"

These words hit Mistoffelees hard, he had tried so hard to keep it from the others yet now, because of his perilous stunt at the ball and his fainting fit on the car, everybody knew (or so he assumed) and he would be treated differently. His defensive mood proved to be quite dangerous. He felt the magic deep within him stir nervously and he fought to keep himself from sending small lightning bolts across the yard. Instead he began to walk away, his eyes staring at floor, willing the feeling to go away- his magic did appear when he was nervous, or happy, or threatened. It could prove at times to be quite troublesome.

"Mistoffelees don't just run away from this. I'm only tryin' to help you" The Rum Tum Tugger planted a firm grip onto his friends shoulder so he couldn't run away. The magician turned around angrily and the older cat thought he could see Mistoffelees eyes sparkle with energy; he began to talk again but was interrupted before he could even start.

"Rum Tum Tugger." Mistoffelees had used his full name, this meant that he was either very angry or very upset…'probably both' thought Tugger.

"There are some things that you will never understand, this being one of them." Tugger was reminded of what Tantomile and Coricopat had said earlier about there being certain things no one (even the cat himself) knew about Mistoffelees' magic.

"I will be fine; I just need to sleep off this sunstroke."

"You don't seem fine," pointed out The Rum Tum Tugger in his annoyingly confident voice.

"No, and you know why? Because I'm being hassled by the most curious cat I've ever known," shot back Mistoffelees, half jokingly. The Rum Tum Tugger looked complimented and decided to quote his very own song.

"And there isn't any need for me to shout it!" Mistoffelees cringed at his friend's voice singing loudly at the top of his lungs, but laughed as The Rum Tum Tugger stopped to give a devilishly dashing grin.

His shouting had caused quite a commotion around the place. Etcetera, as if tracking the two came bounding from the tyre, happy that she had finally found The Rum Tum Tugger. From under the tyre Electra popped her head out to see what was happening and then joined her sister. Their mother Jellyorum was angry at this, having only managed to get them to go to bed (the day had ended now, leaving a cool darkening evening). For some reason Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer chose that exact moment to tumble into the junkyard. These two calico cats were always in some form of trouble, whether it be with the police or simply with Munkustrap, though they always wore large grins on their faces. The cockney tom and queen were notorious cat burglar cats, making a living in Victoria Grove (the richest part in town where the likes of Bustopher Jones resided). They each wore necklaces to show off how successful they were and constantly kept changing them, which gave the idea to Munkustrap that the two were always busy committing one crime or another. This didn't bode well with him and he regularly lectured them, however he could never actually prove a thing-the pair were that sneaky, and Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer were the friendliest cats in the Junkyard so it was sort of an unwritten rule that everyone didn't take much notice of their lives outside the yard.

"Ello ello ello," Mungojerrie said chirpily, smiling at everyone. Jellyorum didn't look pleased to find that she now had to deal with not one, but three troublesome cats. The Rum Tum Tugger appeared miffed about something too. Rumpleteazer, always the one to state the obvious and inappropriate piped up, "well don't everyone look down today."

"These kittens should be in bed by now Rumpleteazer. Have you any idea how long it takes for them to settle?" Jellyorum snapped. Rumpleteazer shook her head, not picking up on the old queen's tone. Jellyorum gave an agitated huff and flocked her kittens back to bed, leaving Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer to chat with The Rum Tum Tugger relentlessly, he couldn't get away.

It wasn't till Mungojerrie had asked what had happened in the junkyard today, did The Rum Tum Tugger realise that Mistoffelees had pulled one of his disappearing acts again. He was nowhere to be seen.

"Well," Rumpleteazer said, "he better appear soon, can ya sense that storm comin'." The three shivered. They all agreed that they could feel the cold sensation which ran up and down their spines when a storm was about to hit. The calicos departed shortly after to find shelter, leaving The Rum Tum Tugger to his impossible task of finding Mistoffelees.

The familiar sense of being ignored swept over Mistoffelees as The Rum Tum Tugger was surrounded by other cats. That cat always did attract attention, and that was what made it difficult to properly talk to him. Instead of making a fuss, he snuck away silently. No one had even noticed.

The first place he thought of heading was to his pipe to settle down for a nice long and uninterrupted sleep, however his guess was that as soon as The Rum Tum Tugger had realised that he was missing, he would go directly to that destination, effectively making his plan useless. No, instead he had decided to leave for a small secluded area outside the junkyard. As a very small kitten, Mistoffelees had been orphaned or abandoned (no one knew exactly) and was found by the kitten protector, Munkustrap himself as he was casually passing by the alley in which Mistoffelees was left to fend for himself. He was too young to remember much of what happened that night; however he was often reminded of the fact that he had no family when he witnessed others playing or joining each other for a family meal. Due to his abandonment at a small age, Mistoffelees had no human home either which meant that the junkyard served as his full time home and he didn't mind it so much. That didn't mean that he never ventured out of the Jellicle boundaries. Often, when he felt like he wanted to be alone, he would take long walks, sometimes not returning until the next day, thus gaining his reputation of being vague and aloof. On his travels he had discovered a quaint park which had a pond, many trees and an old unused shed. At the back of the shed there was a hole just big enough for Mistoffelees to squeeze through and inside it was comfy enough to sleep fitfully.

There was one drawback to this secret den of his. It was a while away from the Junkyard- about an hour if walking at a leisurely pace. The magical cat was halfway there when he stopped abruptly. A queer sensation caused the hair on his back to stand on end. There was a storm coming.

Raindrops had already started to fall lightly when The Rum Tum Tugger discovered that Mistoffelees was not anywhere in the yard. Cursing under his breath at the storm, he searched the perimeter and caught Mistoffelees' scent. It was weak however as the rain was beginning to wash any smells away. He followed it and was met by Alonzo and Munkustrap. They were running at an average speed, aiming to reach the junkyard before the storm had fully started.

"Tugger, what are you planning? Going out in this kind of weather?" Alonzo exclaimed. The Rum Tum Tugger appeared already soggy from the light pour of rain, his mane being pulled down by the weight of the water and his tufted coat clumping together. His brother Munkustrap gave him a most distasteful look.

He wanted to tell them both that Mistoffelees was missing, but how would he go about it? They would either reply that Mistoffelees could take care of himself or that he was tricking them- The Rum Tum Tugger rarely showed anyone any consideration or worry. He merely decided to give a mumbled,

"Don't ask."

Alonzo shrugged and ran ahead, clearly wanting to get out of the rain, like The Rum Tum Tugger, his younger brother also loved to keep up appearances and having a wet coat went against that. His other brother looked genuinely worried.

Munkustrap frowned. His brother Tugger would never be caught out in the rain, not for anything. There must be something up with him. A brief thought came into his head- what if The Rum Tum Tugger was annoyed that he and Alonzo had not invited him to see Old Deuteronomy, but then discarded it. He never ever went to see him anyway.

"Well I am asking. Why are you sneaking off into the rain? You're not in any trouble again are you?" Munkustrap asked with a tone of superior responsibility. His brother rolled his eyes.

"Always the critic aren't we Munk."

"Munkustrap," the Jellicle protector corrected. Then he repeated the question.

"If you have to know, I'm looking for Mistoffelees. He got sunstroke today and has now crept off," The Rum Tum Tugger trailed off uncomfortably. It seemed to Munkustrap that he was keeping something else from him.

"And..?" He said. There was a pause and then, "And, I am worried about him. He didn't seem right when I last saw him." Munkustrap felt himself laugh at the now embarrassed lion-like cat. Sometimes his brother did surprise him. His brother in question rolled his eyes again.

"So what you're saying is that YOU care for someone ELSE'S safety," Munkustrap asked mockingly. To him he felt that the curious cat was having a laugh, he stopped laughing when he saw the sombre look on The Rum Tum Tugger's face. He decided to take another approach to the situation.

"Mistoffelees is not a kitten anymore, I'm sure he's gone to wherever he goes when he feels like it."

"I know he's not a kitten anymore, but he's still very young to be out there in a storm! You know how he hates those," The Tugger explained. That was true, Mistoffelees hated storms, and he had a large fear of them in fact. Still not worried much by this seemingly normal scenario Munkustrap began to walk away,

"You go and find him then, but I'd advise against it, he has his magic and can take care of himself if anything happens." The next moment he had disappeared to find Demeter.

"That's just it, he doesn't have his magic," The Rum Tum Tugger thought and ran towards the gloomy streets surrounding the Jellicle home.


	3. Attacked

After The Ball

A/N- OK first I would like to reply to all those lovely people who took the time to review this story. I am glad you all did, as you've pointed out many things I can improve on and actually many mistakes too embarrassed! Please keep the constructive criticism coming! But I also do rather LOVE the nice comments people make too :D! Chimalmaht- Well all I can tell you about the story coming up- wait, you could just read the chapter…ah well I could use some ideas for the chapter after this so if you have any please feel free to contribute, and enjoy! lozzypop- Yeah The Rum Tum Tugger's reputation is holding him back somewhat and that's why Munkustrap wasn't too bothered (he thought it was a joke). I hope that makes sense to you . Roman de la Croix- Oh YEY! I'm glad you like how I have portrayed the characters. I know some people think that they are not like how they would imagine, but I really wanted to put across my version. Furrowcat is meant to have a w; I made a tiiiiny slip up but shhh! I'll try not to do it again. Krissy4- I thought it was a bit of a gamble making Munkustrap act like that (it was vital to the story though- its gonna get a lot more tense because of it!) Your review has actually given me a brainwave! Thank You! Mistoffelees' portrayal is not (that I am aware) based on anything but my own views of him, though it could be very similar to other people's. Jemima-luvah- Yeah I read back through the chapter and found a few mistakes and glitches here and there, so I'm going to be more careful this time to keep my mistakes to a minimum! You'll find out about Misto during this chapter. Be warned it may not be pretty! Muahahahaha!

Secondly I would just like to patch a few things up as I have realised that my scrambled writings don't make as much sense as I had hoped, so I will try and explain it:

Munkustrap is portrayed as quite ignorant in chapter 2. I did this mainly because The Rum Tum Tugger is at the moment battling with his reputation and his friendship with Mistoffelees, and all of the others don't seem to realise/believe it. In later chapters I think Munkustrap may realise this and switch back into protector mode.

I wrote that Mistoffelees is a stray. In the Mistoffelees song, it talks about a family (I know but I chose to ignore-sorry!). I thought that if he was a stray it would make things much more interesting. It also means that there are more cats at the junkyard-yey!

Mistoffelees I decided was to be affected by how much magic he uses. One because I like to think that he's not perfect, and two because its just so damn hard letting him get captured by Macavity if he could merely transport himself away at anytime. Also he seems quite, well, negative/ sorry for himself. Well that's just for the angsty effect, I hope it doesn't annoy people!

The Rum Tum Tugger is currently trying to help his friend and so his character may change a little as this is life-changing stuff people! Again hope you all like it

Well without further ado, onto the next chapter. ENJOY!

xxx

His breathing increased, his muscles tensed and he found it hard to swallow. The rain that was now pouring relentlessly on his shiny black coat caused him to shiver miserably. He should of never of left the junkyard. He should have stayed in his pipe, where it was semi-warm and mostly out of the rain. Mistoffelees had started off at a quick trot when the raindrops had begun to fall, but found himself swiftly loosing his nerve and increasing his pace. A boom of thunder shook the sky and caused Mistoffelees to brake into a full on run. He hated the rain, but he hated thunder and lightning more, which was strange as he was able to produce little bolts of energy from his fingers. Panting with exertion Mistoffelees ran blindly through the worsening storm, now not knowing where he was going or even which direction he was running in.

xx

The 7 henchcats of Macavity sauntered towards the junkyard. Vincent had ran ahead to pick up any trace of their prey. Macavity had told them that Mistoffelees would most likely be found outside the junkyard, though how he knew, no one dared ask. The sleek black tom was not bothered by this dramatic sort of weather, apart from the fact that it meant that the icy cold wind bit into his skin. It did, however give him an advantage against the cat he was stalking, the other cat couldn't smell him and now because of the storm clouds and the fact that it was night, the other cat couldn't see him either. His talents for tracking were useful to Macavity and so Vincent was held in high regard, after all it wasn't just any cat that was said to be able to track anything at anytime.

xx

Mistoffelees made a sharp turn into a dreary looking alley and skidded to a halt in front of a large dustbin. It had been tipped over and now lay, mostly empty on its side- the lid had rolled a short distance away. Quickly the magical feline took shelter within the metal cylinder and peered out at the torrents of rain. He shut his eyes tightly and tried to take his mind off the constant drumming of the water on the bin. 'It was a mistake to have left the Junkyard,' Mistoffelees repeated. Now he no longer knew where he was, or how he had gotten there. These thoughts sat in Mistoffelees' mind, pulling him deeper into contemplation. He regularly fell into these states, which (to his experience) usually were terminated with some sort of impression in his head. It had happened at the Jellicle Ball the night before-he had sensed Macavity's approach. This time however, the feeling was different, it was somewhat familiar and yet reeked of danger. Mistoffelees concentrated determinedly on the fuzzy image implanting itself in his mind, a tall form could be made out, surrounded by darkness. The figure was dark coloured itself but had brown tufts sprouting out of its shoulders. Mentally, he was able to approach closer and found that he knew the cat. It was The Rum Tum Tugger. This confused him greatly, why would he be warned of him? Then suddenly, as if being answered, many pairs of eyes blended out of the shadow and engulfed the curious cat and with the yell of his friend being pulled away from him, Mistoffelees opened his eyes. No longer focused on the rain or even the booming thunder, his thoughts were set on reaching the Junkyard. He crawled out of his hiding place and ran out of the alley and surveyed where he was.

Every Jellicle was born with many gifts that indicated that they were of that tribe. One of these traits was being able to find their way home through even the toughest of times. This was what Mistoffelees was very grateful for. Ignoring the weather, he pushed himself on, hoping beyond hope that he was not too late for his own prediction.

xx

They had reached the area surrounding Jellicle territory. The street lamps stood in neat little lines on some of the main roads, they provided very little light, but Grumbuskin and the others were careful not to move into the circles of light. The rain had subsided slightly, allowing the strays to move and see easier. In the distance they could all see the metal rustic gates that stood at the entrance of the Jellicle Junkyard- they would go no further than that.

"What do we do now?" the gruff voice of Wiskucat pierced the midnight air.

"We wait for that magician of course," his brother Furrocat hissed in reply.

"No need," growled one of the others, "one of 'them' have just turned the corner over there." Grumbuskin assessed the fast approaching cat, it was not Mistoffelees. "It is not the magic one, what do we do?" a voice asked.

"We attack of course," Wiskucat growled hastily. Grumbuskin agreed, Macavity had said bring back Mistoffelees, but have fun at the same time, why not with the infamous Rum Tum Tugger? He motioned for the strays to advance…

xx

Sure enough the sleek body of The Rum Tum Tugger could be seen from their hidden view point as he rounded the corner swiftly. He had been running for a short while, but found that this sort of movement wasn't his speciality; he just didn't have the build. The road came to many crossings. Any of them could well have been the route Mistoffelees had taken.

"Damn," he thought to himself as he could detect no scent of Mistoffelees. The next few seconds went by in a blur for The Rum Tum Tugger. One moment he was upright and steady on his feet, the next something large had connected with his side and he found himself falling backwards and rolling in the murky puddles lying on the pavement. He managed to push the weight off of himself and gain his feet. He took a shaky breath, he could now see that a cat had tackled him to the floor and it had hurt. This was no play fight game that Pouncival and Tumblebrutus loved to partake in. Other cats advanced toward him from all sides and the thought that he rarely fought at all let alone about 5 at once, flitted through his mind before one of the young strays leapt at him, claws extended. He did the first thing that came into his head, he actually performed one of his hip thrusts, but he executed it so his body lunged forward and he fell into a roll, out of the way of the oncoming attack. Next thing he knew he was being faced by another cat. It was time to fight head on.

This cat actually stood taller than The Rum Tum Tugger (much to his surprise and disappointment) and he had just enough time to notice that he was also living with an injured ear. The ferocious attacker made his assault, clawing at The Rum Tum Tugger's chest. Luckily, the cat had misjudged the distance between them, and had succeeded in only skimming his skin. He countered the attack but the cat known at Furrowcat merely blocked him and gave him a massive cuff around the face. The Rum Tum Tugger was sent backwards onto the floor but was otherwise ok. He rolled to gain his feet but was met by a similar looking cat to the one he had just fought. Wiskucat smirked and gave his victim a vicious kick to the side. The force of the kick caused the The Rum Tum Tugger to choke for air; he glanced up, finding the stray about to repeat the action, so he used his energy to kick the legs out from under him. Wiskucat fell with a grunt and then hissed when the lion cat regained his footing and took a guarded stance.

Tugger could hear the cats yowling aggressively behind him and could see the equally violent faces of those in front of him; he gave them a mouthy insult, even though his ribs protested annoyingly. Everyone knew he was a lover, not a fighter. At the ball he was no where to be seen when Macavity had made an entrance. It wasn't that he couldn't fight, it was just the fact that he never saw a reason to, and unlike his brothers Alonzo and Munkustrap, he was quite selfish. From past experiences, he had concluded that fighting meant pain, and that was something he would avoid at all costs.

His big mouth had proved yet again to dig himself into a deeper hole. A tabby cat came forward clearly growing bored with the resistance of his victim. The Rum Tum Tugger thought he must be the leader. He spoke and his voice was strong and confident, with a slight twinge of restlessness and urgency,

"You are The Rum Tum Tugger, a Jellicle" he stated as if he was introducing an acquaintance to his gang. There was a murmur around him and The Rum Tum Tugger felt extremely exposed. Stupidly he nodded affirming that fact. Why would they want to know that? It occurred to him at that moment that a group of strays such as this lot would have to be Macavity's henchcats, a deadly force.

"Yeah and who are you? One of those fleabags who work for Macavity?" His voice was strained from the bruising blow to his ribs, but it still managed to come across as if he couldn't care less. 'Can you say of your bite, that it's worse than your bark?' Tugger mused, well certainly for him this was not the case at this point in time.

The leader snorted with laughter in reply but didn't answer, "Where is your magician?"

Red lights flashed in The Rum Tum Tugger's mind; "Like I would tell you!" he spat angrily, his calm exterior cracking at the mention of his friend.

"You could tell us willingly or we could use other 'methods' to extract the information," said Grumbuskin snidely. The Rum Tum Tugger rose his eyebrow.

"Over my dead body."

There was a long awful silence and then a full attack was triggered by four simple words, "That can be arranged."

xx

Blow after blow rained down upon the Tugger's body. At first, he had tried to retaliate, but had succeeded in only pushing back a cat or two and turning his back to another onslaught of pain. Wiskucat was taking a particular interest in the fight. He was bitter that the 'ladies cat' had gotten the better of him earlier on. So he was making it up to himself now. He dealt the other cat a stinging slash to the chest and then a punch to the face. The Rum Tum Tugger stumbled backwards, appearing quite shocked at the blood that now trickled from his mouth and leopard patterned chest. His arm was wrapped round his stomach which was also cut open from the relentless claws of Macavity's henchcats. The rain had started to pour harder again, making him feel heavy and weak. A black cat jumped forward and struck the side of his head, he fell into a muddy puddle and found it hard to get back up. Slowly, he placed his two front paws underneath him and began the agonising task of pushing himself up. A swift kick to the ribs and he collapsed into the water again, then there was a weight of someone treading on him and he could not rise again. He groaned, feeling the blood from his face mix with the dirty water lapping at his cheek. Never in his life had he been in so much pain. He felt like sleeping, just going to sleep and never waking up. The pain however was too significant, preventing him to commit to unconsciousness. A voice above him caused him to shiver.

"Where is your magician?" the leader growled.

"I…wouldn't tell you…if you…offered me…all the catnip in the...world," replied The Rum Tum Tugger through clenched teeth. He expected more pain to follow but none did, instead he heard a familiar voice, almost lost through the storm, and his heart broke. Mistoffelees was there.

xx

"Leave him alone!" yelled Mistoffelees, shaking with anger. He had reached the scene in time to witness the Rum Tum Tugger fall into a broken heap and not get up again. Many cats were looming over him, just like his vision had showed him. His magic boiled beneath his skin and he encouraged it to surface. His paws started to glow a strange colour and his eyes shone with emotion.

"Capture him!" Ordered Grumbuskin. Two of the nameless strays ran forward hissing. Mistoffelees sent a bolt towards them scoring a hit in. A yowl was heard and one of them fell, knocked clean out by the power of it. The magical cat repeated the trick and it had the same effect. The other strays hung back now wary of the new arrival. Mistoffelees was now too involved with his magic. As Vincent did what he did best and crept up from behind him, Mistoffelees felt his presence and disappeared in a puff of smoke only to appear a little way behind the black fiend and send him spiralling with another bolt. Then the waves of dizziness swept over him and he realised at once he had overused his magic too soon again. He could not show his weakness, he was at the moment counting on his magic to help The Rum Tum Tugger. Instead he let the magic dim and he relied more on his combat skills. They weren't at all near enough the level of his opponents, but they seemed not to be aiming to harm him. He wondered why.

"Conjurer!"Grumbuskin had The Rum Tum Tugger by the neck, an extremely sharp claw digging painfully into the curious cat's flesh. Mistoffelees' assault abruptly ceased. He lowered his paws and they grew dimmer.

"Stop or your pathetic friend won't live to see another day." As if to prove what he said was true, he gave The Rum Tum Tugger a sharp prod with his claw and he yelped in response. The Tugger's eyes which were usually so calm and mischievous now were only half open, full of pain, and barely focused. He was in bad shape. Mistoffelees cut of his magic and forced himself to stop swaying. Grumbuskin smiled toothily.

"Now listen freak," he spat, "I'll let go of your friend and he can scurry off to his junkyard if you come along with us willingly." Mistoffelees didn't move. Again Grumbuskin gave his captive a rough shake, the defiant glare on the small tom's face immediately cracked and Macavity's second knew that he had won.

Mistoffelees allowed Vincent to approach him and bind his arms, he even stood perfectly still when the others came to prod and mock him:

"Look at 'im, so small n' weak."

"Pathetic."

"It would be easier to jus' get rid o' him now"

Only when the stray leader started to drag The Rum Tum Tugger with them did he start to protest.

"You said you would let him go!" he screamed, struggling against his bonds. He saw them all laugh and felt very weak all of a sudden. He noticed that The Rum Tum Tugger had passed out and know lay limply between the brother cat's arms, and then he felt a massive pressure to his temple. As a lightning bolt lit up the street darkness overtook him.

xx

The storm had blown over well before the early hours of the morning. It had also blown over much of the junk in the Jellicle yard and so it was every cat's duty to clean up. Thankfully no one had been hurt by the falling objects, though Plato was not happy to find his residence flooded. Munkustrap, still tired by yesterday's travels, forced himself up and out of the warm embrace of Demeter. He began to assign tasks to the tribe members. It was not long into the day when he realised that he hadn't been annoyed or mocked by a certain brother of his. He scanned the clearing and noticed that the rum Tum Tugger was not there and neither was Mistoffelees. This worried him greatly. He thought back to last night and how he had wanted desperately to get back home and out of the storm. His brother had mentioned something about the disappearance of Mistoffelees. Come to think of it, he seemed extremely worried, which was not like the Tugger he had grown up with. As second to Old Deuteronomy, Munkustrap held his position as protector very highly. He also prided himself on trusting his instincts; at the moment he felt that there was something amiss and cursed himself for ignoring The Rum Tum Tugger's anxious thoughts that he had confided to him later last night. When he was sure that his brother was not merely hiding, trying to sleep through the renovation, he called for Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer. The two cons met him on the large tyre in the centre of the clearing and they sat in quiet conversation.

Munkustrap had decided to ask this particular pair because of two things. Firstly, they were highly skilled in finding their way round town, a useful trait when you needed to find somebody. Secondly, they knew nearly everything gossip wise. If a plan had been set against the Jellicles or The Rum Tum Tugger had disappeared with Mistoffelees for any other reason, Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer would most certainly find out. On the tyre Mungojerrie had started off the conversation.

"Well, what can we do ya for?" His voice was light and cheerful as he offered his services.

"Some nice jewellery for Demeter pa'aps?" Rumpleteazer jested, while only half paying attention to Munkustrap's stern visage. Munkustrap's tail flicked out of habit and he shook his head.

"I will get to the point. Last night I saw The Rum Tum Tugger leave the junkyard after Mistoffelees. They haven't come back; do you know anything about it?" It sounded terrible to the Jellicle leader now he had said it. He had seen his brother leave and didn't give it a second thought, now he hadn't returned and he would never forgive himself if anything had happened. The two calicos glanced at each other nervously- they obviously knew something.

"Well we dunno what 'appened to Tugger," Rumpleteazer began almost sounding guilty, "but Mistoffelees, well..." she trailed off, seemingly unable to finish her sentence. Alarmingly Munkustrap barked, "What? What about Mistoffelees?"

Mungojerrie took over from there.

"Would've thought ya would've figured it out." A small pause to collect his thoughts, "after the ball Macavity swore revenge on us Jellicles. Mistoffelees in particular. My guess is if he's missing Macavity has something to do with it." The worried faces of the two cats told Munkustrap that they told the truth.

'Of course! This is Macavity's doing,' Munkustrap mentally scolded himself. Now the fact that Mistoffelees was in danger fully hit him and he realised he must act quickly.

"Rumpleteazer, Mungojerrie, can you please find out where my brother has got to and if possible could you see if Macavity has Mistoffelees. If he has we will have to devise a plan to save him before he gets hurt." The two siblings nodded and nimbly ran off, leaving Munkustrap to pace about in a sombre mood.

xx

The first thing Mistoffelees was aware of was the throbbing dull sensation running through his head. It felt as if he had been hit with a hammer around the temples. He emitted a pitiful groan and tried to rub his bruised head, only to find that his hands were still crudely bound. The familiar feeling of exhaustion was making itself known as well and it made him laugh inwardly- his magic did him and people around him more harm than good. A quiet scuffle sounded behind him and he immediately tensed up, someone else was in the room with him. Not knowing what was behind him greatly scared Mistoffelees. In his mind he could imagine the intimidating bunch of cats that had attacked him and his friend, or even worse, the napoleon of crime himself-Macavity. Silently consuming a few gulps of air, he worriedly turned his head to glance at the figure lurking in the shadows at the back of him. There, lying very still was the unconscious form of his comrade, The Rum Tum Tugger. As Mistoffelees gasped and manoeuvred so he was now facing his fallen fellow Jellicle, he could further make out the extent of his wounds.

He was on his side, one arm draped over his still bleeding (albeit slowly) wound situated on his stomach, his other arm was stretched out towards Mistoffelees' direction and supported his bruised face. The rain still had not dried, clinging with the blood onto his mane and now shabby fur, it made his always perfectly groomed hair appear damp clotted and out of place. A bruise was forming around his eye and the blood from his mouth now settled around his nose and whiskers, dried and dirty looking. Finally, and what worried Mistoffelees worried about the most was the long distorted gashes running across his chest. They began at the base of his neck and ran diagonally to the right, where his ribs lay under his skin. The blood that had trickled from the wound left his fur caked in the sticky red substance so he no longer had the deep rich brown colour.

Mistoffelees could get up, though his vision swam and he was unsteady on his feet, the pounding did not cease its relentless beating as well. He collapsed shortly after by Tugger and checked his breathing. He looked to be stable and so Mistoffelees then turned his attention to his surroundings.

It was clear that he was being held captive in a human building, and an abandoned one at that. He was not totally oblivious to the structure of human homes. There were a few tiny windows way up high and away from his reach, but with his hands tied behind his back, Mistoffelees could not get to them or perform magic. He slumped in defeat and wondered how he could get out there when a low rumbling laugh seemed to echo throughout the whole building. His blood ran cold and his hair on the back of his neck stood up. There, right in front of him was Macavity himself.


	4. To give your freedom

After the Ball

Author's notes: Again a very happy writer here! I am pleased to find that people are reviewing again-whee! Can I call you lovely lot my regulars and reply to your reviews? Ok here goes- lozzypop- It's about to get a whole lot worse I can assure you. I'm pretty sure there's going to be more cliff-hangers too! Mystitat- blushes thank you for your compliments! I tend to find that fight scenes are my specialty, so there should be a few more in here. Chimalmaht- Munkustrap is defiantly not a happy kitty right now, and his guilt is going to grow. Tugger and Misto, well, they too aren't happy kitties either. Mwhahahaha. Krissy4- Well I'm glad you're enjoying the Misto torture. Hope you enjoy the next chapter! Jemima-luvah- trumpets sound congratulations you won my 'best review' award! Thank you for your praise and I will try and make Macavity super evil for you, though to be honest I haven't even considered his character yet! That Furrowcat/Furrocat has really got me confused I think it's actually Furrowcat (I think I've been using that one more :S) Oh well enjoy and hopefully I wont be plagued with writers block.

Oh and one more thing, sorry folks for the slight delay, you know what its like when you get out of the swing of writing for a few days, then it all goes down hill from there!

xxx

Mistoffelees dared not move a muscle, or rather could not move from fear in the awkward posture he was holding. He had witnessed Macavity at the Jellicle Ball however then he had been protected, and examined him from a distance. He had not been targeted then, but now, well now it was a different story. Macavity stood a few meters away from him and he was the centre of attention. Up close the fearsome cat did himself justice. The tales told about him were merely estimations of his true appearance. The red fur stood out and his underbelly had the famous markings. The strong claws clunked on the wooden flooring, the very sound chilled Mistoffelees to the bone.

The red feline stopped halfway across the room and in front of the door, effectively stopping the only line of escape. The magical cat eyed his suspiciously.

When Macavity spoke it was like someone had Mistoffelees by the throat and would not let go- he found it hard to breathe as the napoleon of crime's voice echoed coolly around the room.

"I see my brother has decided to tag along. He can never keep out of trouble, I just don't know where he gets it from," Macavity drawled sarcastically as he swiftly closed the gap between himself and the two hostages. As he said it he gave The Rum Tum Tugger a harsh kick to his already broken side, the hurt cat moaned- a sure sign that he was waking up. Macavity smiled. Mistoffelees' eyes widened slightly, he had no idea that his best friend was related to such an evil being. And if Tugger was Macavity's brother then that meant so was Munkustrap… Mistoffelees guessed that the proud brothers would not want the tribe to know about their 'off the rails' sibling, but he felt somewhat put off; surely their tribe should know something this important. Then the guilty thought that he had informed no one of his magical troubles swept over him and he suddenly forgave them. Still, the idea that Macavity was actually related to a Jellicle was preposterous. Maybe, just maybe, that meant he was a Jellicle too…

Macavity had seemed to pick up on the small tom's surprise. He laughed callously, kneeled and placed a paw on The Rum Tum Tugger's mane in mock affection.

"He didn't tell you about me?" Macavity asked faking surprise, then his face grew more serious with a hint of bitterness in those sunken eyes of his, "No I guess not. Dearest Munkustrap would have none of it. He wouldn't want a mark on that clear record of his," his claw twisted angrily in the knotted fur and he pulled up the weight of his brother so their faces were level. "It seems that my other brother has scarred that pretty face of his," he let him go and The Rum Tum Tugger fell to the floor with a soft 'clunk', "Shame."

Finally finding his voice, Mistoffelees spoke up. "Leave him alone Macavity, he's done nothing to you." The two conscious cats were very close to each other and Macavity stepped closer so he stood higher than the black and white tom. He looked down and sneered, "But you have." Mistoffelees took a wobbly step backward as the other cat advanced, a dangerous glint in his eyes. In truth, Mistoffelees was terrified of what would happen to him and The Rum Tum Tugger. He thought what would happen if he were to use magic, whether he would faint from the pressure or if indeed it would work against such a powerful cat (who was also said to possess enchantments of some form). Macavity seemed to guess what was running through his mind and within the next second Mistoffelees found himself pinned against the wall by the neck, so he was barely touching the floor with his paws. He scrambled hopelessly for a moment panicking at the lack of air reaching his lungs.

"You think you can use magic against me?" there was a booming bark of laughter as the grip on Mistoffelees' throat tightened, "if you so much as think of performing your tricks on me or my cats then you will be the cause of my brother's slow and painful demise." He let go and Mistoffelees slid to the floor gasping for air but holding himself together defiantly. Looking swiftly at The Rum Tum Tugger and his mind was made up on the spot; he would never do anything which would place his friends in direct danger like that, even if it meant that putting himself there instead. Mistoffelees brought himself up to his full height (which wasn't much compared to the looming Macavity) and stuck his chest out as proudly as he could manage.

"If you will release The Rum Tum Tugger then I will submit to your demands, whatever they may be," he spoke the last part very softly as he let his head droop slightly in despair.

"Do you think I would believe that! You would magic yourself out of here as soon as he leaves the building."

"You have my promise. As a Jellicle," Mistoffelees countered, knowing full well that it was widely known that a Jellicle's promise was never broken. Macavity nodded in agreement and replied, "it is done conjurer. I will release The Rum Tum Tugger to tell of your dire fate tomorrow at dawn." He then unexpectedly left the room leaving Mistoffelees to run the words over in his mind –'your dire fate, your dire fate, your dire fate…' He fell asleep from exhaustion, being plagued by terrible nightmares throughout the night.

xx

It did not take long for Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer to pick up the track of the missing cats. Although the scent of them had been washed away by the pervious night's rain, Mungojerrie had visited a reliable old contact of his and word on the street was that a fight had taken place near the junkyard late last night. The two calicos rushed to the destination and found with a heavy heart evidence of a scrap that went against the Jellicle's favour. To the untrained eye there would be no sign of any brawl, however these two cat burglars could easily identify the ripped out fur that scattered randomly across the pavement and the flecks on blood staining the floor. Of course they couldn't tell whose blood it was, but Rumpleteazer gravely pointed out that the fur was that of The Rum Tum Tugger's. Taking the evidence, Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer raced back to the junkyard to present it to Munkustrap.

"Ya can jus' tell he aint gonna be happy with this," Rumpleteazer muttered to Mungojerrie

"Thanks for statin' the obvious Teazer," he replied glumly.

xx

Munkustrap was conversing with Plato and Ademetus on the trunk of the car again. Around them the kittens frolicked playfully- with the short absence of The Rum Tum Tugger, the young toms Pouncival and Tumblebrutus had been receiving far more attention from the likes of Electra and Etcetera . Needless to say they enjoyed it immensely, being the centre of attention for once. Meanwhile Bombalurina was wandering the yard seemingly with nothing to do, however she was looking for Tugger and pouted sulkily when he was nowhere to be seen.

"He can't just keep taking off like that! Doesn't he know how annoying it gets," she moaned consistently while being consoled by her close friend Demeter. Cassandra passed by with Alonzo who stopped at the mention of his brother's name.

"Bombalurina, I saw him last night in the rain, seemed to be going somewhere important," Alonzo added. The red queen narrowed her eyes, "in the rain?" Alonzo nodded, "that's all I know, Munkustrap spoke to him for a while, go ask him." Bombalurina winked and said, "Thanks" before sauntering off with Demeter to find Munkustrap.

As the two felines leapt up onto the car bonnet to speak with Munkustrap, Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer were jumping from the other side. With Plato, Ademetus, Demeter, Munkustrap, Bombalurina, Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer all on the car, it turned out to be quite cramped and so they were all very close together, looking rather suspicious to anyone passing by.

"We got some information for ya," Rumpleteazer informed still panting heavily from the previous running. From the grave faces of the two, Munkustrap could tell it was bad news. Demeter, who possessed a great sense of instinct, approached Munkustrap and rubbed her head against his neck in a sign of affection and comfort; he returned the action quickly and then pulled himself to his usual stiff posture.

"We found signs of a fight not too far away from 'ere. There was a lot of blood… and this," Mungojerrie nudged Rumpleteazer and she came forward to place the fur in front of the Jellicle protector. Bombalurina gasped and rushed to grab at the small patch of brown fur. Out of all the female cats in the tribe, she was the fondest of The Rum Tum Tugger and it seemed that he also held a soft spot for her. Ademetus then asked the obvious question that secretly everyone was dying to ask, "Is that The Rum Tum Tugger's? Where is he?"

"Macavity," whispered Demeter and there was a great murmur among them all. Now other cats had assembled below, the kittens excited at the mention of Macavity.

"What's this nonsense about Macavity now," Jellyorum called pulling her kittens close in a motherly fashion. Munkustrap sighed; he had hoped that the distressing news would be kept quiet until he could devise a plan. Adding to that the sick feeling of guilt that stabbed him annoyingly in the gut, screaming at him- he should've paid more attention to The Rum Tum Tugger, he should've been playing his role in the tribe properly, he should've realised Macavity wanted Mistoffelees after the ball. Instead of voicing these thoughts, he chose to keep them locked up, as he usually did.

"We have reason to believe that last night during the storm Macavity has fought and captured The Rum Tum Tugger and due to the absence of Mistoffelees, it is likely that he too is in the clutches of Macavity." This statement caused a great uproar among the female kittens. The news of their favourite Tom Tugger sent them into shrieks of worry, though almost no one was mentioning the news of Mistoffelees.

"What are we going to do Munkustrap?" "Will The Rum Tum Tugger be ok?" "Is Mistoffelees there too?" Many questions were fired at Munkustrap all at once and he had to stand in his 'story telling' stance so everyone would quieten down and listen.

"Now we can't do anything unless you all calm down," Munkustrap said in a strained voice. The hyper youngsters were not making his job any easier. He waited for silence and then continued, "I suggest we plan this out carefully. We all know what Macavity is capable of and how not to underestimate him. If it is true that he has The Rum Tum Tugger and Mistoffelees then he must have a reason for it. We need to find out what exactly." That was the end of his speech, Munkustrap felt like he had no energy to go on so he stopped, gave a quick dismissal and then asked for a selection of cats in the tribe to a small meeting later on in the day. The sick feeling was still there…

xx

A thin stream of sunlight filtered through the window and into the dim room. It strategically hit the face of a sleeping tom and continued to glare until the tom in question scrunched his eyes and finally opened them, only to close them quickly and move out of the way. A few seconds passed and then he rolled to his feet as if he had just been shocked, he had just realised where he was. AT first he thought it just a dream, a bad nightmare, like the ones he had been having all through the night, however it was not and he cursed himself for sleeping when his friend was still unconscious…or was he? Now as the small tom Mistoffelees approached he could see shivers running up and down the almost lifeless body on the floor. Taking another step and the floorboard creaked; the lifeless figure jumped, yelped, and then lay still again. Mistoffelees rushed to his side.

"Tugger! Are you ok?" The Rum Tum Tugger's labouring breath stopped for a moment before a croaked answer was said, "M-m-Mistoffelees?"

"Yes it's me, Mistoffelees. Are you ok?"

"I've had better days," The Rum Tum Tugger replied. Mistoffelees smiled despite the situation; only Tugger could make light of such seriousness. He manoeuvred himself so they could both see each others faces. He nearly gasped out loud when he saw the numerous cuts and bruises on The Rum Tum Tugger's face; one of his eyes was shut due to a painful looking black eye, not to mention the deep gashes marring his handsome visage. However it was not Mistoffelees who commented on the state of Tugger.

"You have a bruise on your face!" The Rum Tum Tugger pointed out, his voice sounded angry, "did Macavity do this?" He attempted to get up but only managed to get half way before having to give up and lean on the wall for support.

"You have to calm down Tugger, you are far worse off than me, you need to save your strength."

"Why are you not answering my question Mistoffelees? Did Macavity do that to you?" Mistoffelees looked almost ashamed and nodded, "how did you know that it was Macavity that has us here?"

The Rum Tum Tugger replied quietly, "I can smell him, and let's be honest. Who else would it be?"

Mistoffelees appeared thoughtful for a while and then set his piercing gaze to his friend, "I think he is coming."

xx

Macavity entered and spotted at once the bent over Rum Tum Tugger scowling as fiercely as he could. He had to admit, if he was in better shape, Macavity would've acted more wary around him, a healthy and angry Rum Tum Tugger was never one to cross lightly. Instead he looked to Mistoffelees who was staring at him directly, appeared wearied but had hauntingly placid eyes, 'he would soon change that,' Macavity thought to himself before advancing on the two.

"You have missed much brother, whilst you slept. Mistoffelees and I had quite an interesting chat," the ginger cat laughed as his younger sibling winced at the term 'brother', he obviously didn't approve of it. "Don't worry 'brother'. Your friend already knows about our loving family." Mistoffelees gave The Rum Tum Tugger an apologetic look and bowed his head downwards, not liking where the conversation was going. Macavity then went on, "he also has made me a promise. Sparing your pathetic life for his cooperation with my specific terms." At this The Rum Tum Tugger yelled out loud.

"No! Don't you dare lay one claw on him, I sware Macavity I'll…"

"You'll do what, kill me?" interrupted the cat in question. The curious cat fell silent but was outwardly seething with rage. After a few moments he tried another tactic.

"Mistoffelees, you are making a big mistake. He is not trustworthy, he will come for us all in the end anyway, use your magic and -"

A sharp claw smacked him across the face and he gasped at the stinging pain. It caused red blood to ooze out from a gash on his forehead and seep into his eyes. Mistoffelees leapt forward in front of the next oncoming blow. Macavity rose hi paw for a second strike and let it come down at his brother's closed eyes, however at the last moment a blur of black and white came in the way and was hit instead.

Falling to the floor with a soft gasp and Mistoffelees found that he was looking up at the menacing Macavity. He noticed that he was snarling, probably with rage at getting in the way of his wrath. The ginger cat bent down and lifted him up by the neck (it was in a similar fashion to the previous night) and threw. Mistoffelees felt his body impact with the wall and then continue to slide down until he reached the floor. Breathing heavily he tried to get up, Macavity had turned his back and was paying more attention to The Rum Tum Tugger who was now sporting yet another gash on his shoulder. Again the anger sparked off the magic within him. He knew he had promised Macavity that he would not use his magic, but this was only on the condition that his friend was released, so, without thinking much more Mistoffelees had gained his footing and was sending a powerful wave directly at his foe. It took a lot out of him as he had never used such a different type of magic, this time it was more centred, more pure and harder to conjure.

"Leave, him, alone," Mistoffelees managed to shout, looking at the quickly recovering cat before he dropped to his knees, feeling dizzy and weak. He could just about hear the worried cry of The Rum Tum Tugger and see a blur before his eyes before he knew no more.


	5. Promises kept

After the Ball

Author's notes: Thankyou one and all for all your lovely reviews! I heart all of you! Roman de la Croix- I have undying love? ME? Oh WOW, I just, I just don't know what to say! You get my review of the chapter award for being so nice! Lolanthe- As you can probably tell I do love the odd bit of Misto torture too. Thank you for your review and enjoy the next chapter. Krissy4- I'm having a little trouble of Macavity's character. Should I make him stereotypically evil, or maybe write him as a strong genius evil mastermind? I need guidance! Morph- Thankyou for your review, please carry on reading and hopefully review more pleads. BRD- I'm glad you're liking this story, please if you read remember to review, I do so love receiving them. Lozzypop- Cliff-hangers are my forte, its also a weakness as I sometimes don't know when to not stop at one. I'll work on it, don't want my readers to die of worry for little Misto do we? ;) Jemima-luvah- Macavity, well heres the thing with him, I imagine him to be a real clever guy y'know, being so successfully evil and all that jazz, so I didn't picture him as the kind of cat to talk commonly, but he sees himself above that. I will try and make this chapter more realistic and unpredictable, though I'm not a good writer so I cant promise anything. Sorry . devilserpent- Thanks for your support. I'd like to say Misto will be fine, but I just cant promise you that mwahahahaha

Thank you to any other who reviewed, review again and I shall write a comment, its just this time I had written all the introduction before some of you had had a chance of reading it.

Ok people I'm in a crisis here, I'm running out of inspiration! I need some and I need some guidance on Macavity's character. So I am pleading with you all to give me your honest opinion on what hes like in this chapter and maybe give me some feedback and ideas on what you think he should be like. Don't hold back!

xxx

For once in his life Munkustrap felt utterly helpless. How would he get both The Rum Tum Tugger and Mistoffelees back from Macavity without putting other Jellicles in danger? He considered telling Old Deuteronomy about the crisis but then thought better of it; his ancient father did not need to be dragged into such a stressful situation, not at his age. Instead he resigned himself to a quite corner of the junkyard to go over multiple plans, each one proving to be flawed by at least one factor. Skimbleshanks the Scottish railway cat approached a little while after Munkustrap had started thinking.

"I'm sorry laddie but the trains won't run without the railway cat," he said apologetically in his thick accent. Munkustrap nodded in agreement but secretly felt that he needed the older cat to stay and help him protect the tribe; he of course did not say this but exchanged a few polite words with him. As Skimbleshanks trotted away he called over his back, "I will keep an eye out on the trains and around that area, you never know where that fiend will turn up" And with that the cat of the railway had gone, off to his post, most likely late.

It seemed that quite a few other cats had to leave that night. Cassandra had left to 'check up' on her owner who lived in the richer part of town claiming that she had not been back for a few days which seemed suspicious. Jennyanydots left to tend to her mice but her kittens Pouncival and Tumblebrutus remained in the safe keeping of Munkustrap, and Jellyorum had gone with Electra and Etcetera. Ademetus and Victoria also departed early on in the afternoon. Even Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer left without so much of a goodbye. Munkustrap knew it was customary for many cats to leave a few days after the ball to slide back into their normal lifestyles, leaving the junkyard relatively empty for a small period of time (apart from the strays residing there) but Munkustrap could not help wondering that their abrupt disappearing acts had something to do with Macavity- they were most likely scared to be caught out by him and so left for the safety of their own homes. Finally, Munkustrap decided to return to his tribe and his mate Demeter. She could always cheer him up, he thought somewhat optimistically.

xxx

Macavity had been enraged in the beginning at his captive's defiant attack. The small black cat 'and just out of kittenhood it seemed too,' thought Macavity bitterly, had actually inflicted pain on him. The powerful magical blow had caused the napoleon of crime to fall and remain out of breath and shaky for quite a while afterwards. However, not one to let a little pain get in the way of his 'aims', Macavity was up within the next minute (a lesser cat could well of been out of commission for a few hours) and flew towards the assaulting cat, who was now weakly on his knees, eyes clouded over in discomfort and exhaustion. He did not think that Mistoffelees was even conscious for the direct blow to his temple but it made him feel better to watch as he slumped forward a slight trail of blood falling from his head. He was defiantly unconscious now. His brother, renewed with anger had managed to rise and call out for his friend before it had happened, now he still stood with one arm clamped tightly around his waist breathing heavily and blinking so not to get blood in his eyes. Macavity, who was also finding it difficult to breathe turned to face him, he sneered at The Rum Tum Tugger as he took in his half dead appearance. Then, he remembered his deal with Mistoffelees about how he would let The Rum Tum Tugger go in exchange for his cooperation.

"You are free to go brother, but make one bad move and your precious magician won't survive the night."

"Do not call me that Macavity, I am no brother of yours," The Rum Tum Tugger hissed through gritted teeth. Macavity rose his eyebrows, "Oh no? I think I can do what I want as you cannot even hope to stop me, nor can your precious leader Munkustrap,"

As if on cue the two cat brothers Furrocat and Wiskucat entered and surrounded The Rum Tum Tugger. As they proceeded to drag him out of the room The Rum Tum Tugger cried out in pain and alarm. He could see Mistoffelees lying behind Macavity and he wasn't moving, or looked to be even alive. It worried him a great deal, but before he had time to even think of fighting back he was out of the room and half suffocated by the massive cat Furrocat's deathly grip around his neck. He felt as if his lungs were about to burst when he felt the cold ground beneath him. He looked up and found himself in the street again, not far from the junkyard- had he really been carried all this way without noticing it? Grimacing, he attempted to gain his footing once again, however the adrenaline from earlier on had all but been spent and he failed miserably. Instead he resigned himself to crawling a little way, resting a bit then moving again. "Soon," he thought, "the junkyard will be in view, if only I can get there…soon."

xxx

The moon was out and shining brightly upon the white face of Plato. His expression solemn and stern, he was on watch with the mischievous Tumblebrutus who was actually sleeping soundly next to him, younger toms could never be trusted to stick to their posts. Plato didn't mind it; he would rather sit in the peace and silence of the night, than have to put up with Tumble's constant ramblings and distractions. Perching upon the splintered rocking chair, Plato gazed about, carefully looking for any suspicious movement- he, as a stray and nearly a fully grown tom, was given responsibilities by Munkustrap, and other than Munkustrap himself and Alonzo, he was the next in command when others such as Skimbleshanks weren't around. For good reason too. He was one of the tallest cats around, matched only by The Rum Tum Tugger and Macavity, and was quite a decent fighter. Although he preferred the serene side of life to the scrappiness of the streets, he was still street smart and was able to defend himself well; he made a productive and strong member to the Jellicle tribe. Suddenly, he was drawn out of his thoughts because of a loud crash emitting from some old dustbins cans near the entrance of the junkyard. It was loud enough to wake Tumblebrutus from slumber. The younger cat rubbed his eyes sleepily,

"What was that din?" he asked groggily. Plato narrowed his eyes and tensed, "I will go and check it out, and you go and get Munkustrap and Alonzo." Tumblebrutus, still half asleep nodded and lowered himself down from the chair, then running to the car where Munkustrap and Demeter had made their home. Plato had already made his way over to the dustbins when another clatter came from them, a can lid rolled and stopped at his paws. Looking up from the lid he spied a bent over figure stumbling over himself to get closer. Plato looked closer and gasped when he recognised him, "Tugger!" he cried rushing to help his friend.

"I couldn't stop them…Mistoffelees," he mumbled incoherently, before collapsing after the great trek he had just made. He did not hit the ground as Plato had caught him and carefully lowered him to the floor. Munkustrap had swiftly left his home to watch the scene unravel before his very eyes. Demeter has also been there with Tumblebrutus and her gasp of horror was enough to snap him out of his shocked trance. After the initial shock of seeing his brother in such a state, he was there like a bullet and aiding Plato with carrying him to a warmer place. The racket had caused other cats to now wake up and a few ventured out to see what was happening.

"TUGGER!" squealed Jemima, wailing as she saw his limp body on the dusty clearing floor, she began to run to him, to see if he was ok when she was held back by Alonzo. "Stay back, give him some room," warned Alonzo, his voice strained. He then turned to Asparagus (the younger one of the tribe) who was standing silently by him. "Keep the kittens away from here then go and fetch Jennyanydots, we are in need of her services greatly."

"Ok Alonzo," said Asparagus, as he herded the kittens back to their beds. Alonzo then proceeded to rush to his fallen brother's side where he received worried glances from Munkustrap and Demeter.

"Plato, what did you see?" Alonzo snapped angrily rounding on the stunned cat.

"Well nothing but..." Alonzo had interrupted, his voice rising in volume, "you were 'meant' to be on watch, you were 'meant' to be looking out for him!" Alonzo was known for his knack of jumping to conclusions; it caused him to get into many scraps even though he never meant harm by it. Now his brother had turned up left for dead and he could not contain his anger. He drew himself to his full height, which only levelled to Plato's chin and clenched his fists. Plato, totally oblivious to what he had done looked to him confused, "Alonzo, I was on watch, I found him staggering in here, he mentioned Mistoffelees and how he couldn't stop them." Alonzo blinked once and then Munkustrap was next to him, a paw on his shoulder, he instantly calmed down and mumbled an apology to Plato.

"Did he say anything else, anything about Macavity perhaps?" Munkustrap asked. Plato shook his head and Demeter sighed half in fear half in relief; she hoped to the everlasting cat that Macavity had nothing to do with this, yet, in her heart she felt that he did, he always did.

Moving The Rum Tum Tugger was a difficult matter. Between the 3 tom cats they managed it, but it was no easy task; The Rum Tum Tugger was after all, a large tom cat indeed. Now safely tucked away within the interior of the car bonnet, which Munkustrap and Demeter shared, The Rum Tum Tugger was laid down again, looking even worse now he was on his back and breathing shallowly.

"What did he do to you?" Munkustrap murmured using a soft paw to wipe some of the matted mane from his brother's face. Alonzo's ears perked up and he gave a low growl.

"Who do you mean Munkustrap?" Alonzo asked, having a strange feeling that he already knew by the bitterness in his brother's voice. Munkustrap locked eyes with the patched black and white tom, at once Alonzo knew for sure. Screwing his handsome face in disgust he hissed the dreaded word "Macavity" causing Plato to narrow his eyes and Demeter to scoot closer to Munkustrap. At the sound of the name The Rum Tum Tugger's eyes flickered and then opened…

xxx

All around him swirled an eerie mist, freezing and scentless. He tried to call out to someone but his voice didn't make it a few metres in front of him and everywhere he looked there was nothing but a silvery coating on a pitch black background. Not even a sound was heard and it scared him. Never had he been to such a place. The only positive thing he could think of about this place was the fact that he seemed not to exist, he seems to just float without a cause, and that meant the pain he had felt had diminished into a pleasant airy feeling. Floating there Mistoffelees found it hard to think about anything. He knew there was something he had to remember but the comfortable sleep he was tempted by was overpowering his brain. Slowly, he closed his eyes and succumbed to the darkness. An eternity later a pinprick of pain woke him from his near fatal dream into the cruel world of consciousness.

xxx

Macavity looked at the unconscious being on the floor, his breathing had slowed right down and for a moment, Macavity thought that the harsh blow to his head had killed him. He smirked at the thought that merely one of his claws could hold such power, but then dismissed any further elaborations on the idea and instructed Grumbuskin to make sure the 'runt' did not die on him. Macavity left the tiny dank room, tail swishing predatorily as his eyes gleamed with the slight madness that was present there. Oh how he couldn't wait for his prey to wake up, then he would certainly have some fun. It was all part of the plan. "Soon," he thought menacingly, "soon he would have the Jellicle tribe…soon."

A low manic chuckle escaped his lips as he sauntered away, leaving Grumbuskin to tend to Mistoffelees.

Grumbuskin waited for his boss to leave before eyeing up the pitiful cat beneath him and he muttered under his breath, "unlucky aint ya," he said to the unconscious form, turning Mistoffelees over so he could lay on his back instead of face down on the floor. Alarmingly his breathing had almost stopped, his chest barely rising up and down. Noticing this, Grumbuskin reached for a small bowl of water tucked away in the corner of the room, unnoticed by the captives before. He proceeded to dump it in Mistoffelees face and he found to his relief the cat spluttered and jumped up. Not one to let anyone grasp a chance of escape, Grumbuskin pinned the poor dripping wet figure to the ground who was dazed anyway. Grumbuskin looked down into the pain filled eyes and got off,

"Don't try to escape, if ya know what's good for ya." He paced over to the door, "Macavity will be pleased to know that you didn't die." Then he left leaving Mistoffelees shaking in his cold damp fur.

The wound on his head throbbed terribly as did most of his body. He figured that his head injury was the cause of his sluggishness and he fought to keep awake- to fall asleep now would mean that he may never wake up again. Next, after his self check up, he noticed that The Rum Tum Tugger had gone and he hoped to the everlasting cat he was freed, maybe he could go to Munkustrap and they could pull off a brave rescue, but the nagging thought in his head reminded him of his status in the tribe, "Merely a magician, entertainment for the kittens when they were bored. Nobody would even consider putting their own lives in danger for me, except maybe The Rum Tum Tugger and I don't even know if he's alive or not." Tears sprung to his eyes and he furiously wiped them away with a bloody paw, he would not let Macavity see him cry. He sat there for a long while, staring at the door, hoping that Macavity would not enter but then realising that it was inevitable as he was now a prisoner in what it seemed a labyrinth of rooms and corridors with Macavity's hench-cats wandering the place like a swarm of ants.

He got up shakily and felt the weakness in his legs, as if the lack of magic left something behind and it was wearing away brutally at his kneecaps. Vaguely, he remembered the short stance before Macavity when he had used his preserve magic to help out his friend, but then after that all he recalled was the face of Grumbuskin. Familiar sense of nausea stuck to him like the blood clinging to his dulled fur and the stuffed up atmosphere in the room felt like it was slowly suffocating him, Mistoffelees thought desperately of his promise to stay here and then went on to think that he wouldn't last long in such a habitat, he needed the free fresh air and open spaces of the junkyard, his home.

xxx

At the same moment Mistoffelees was left in a trail of his own thoughts, The Rum Tum Tugger woke to find a worried familiar face hovering over him. Though his mind had not woken up enough yet to process where he was, he knew enough to figure that he was safe enough, so, emitting a soft groan he blinked to clear the blurriness and sniffed to pick up the scent of his brother.

"Munk?" he asked, not aware of the slightly leaking eyes of his brother, who was fighting the tears (of happiness that threatened to spill) rather well. The silver tiger cat smiled at his waking brother and again used a paw to move the fringe of hair out of The Tugger's face.

"Yes, it's me," he replied softly. The Rum Tum Tugger seemed to remember something just at that moment and his eyes widened and he gave a sudden jerk. Munkustrap and Alonzo went to hold him down.

"Mistoffelees, is he here?" The Rum Tum Tugger asked, desperation evident in his hoarse voice. The other cats shared looks with each other and Alonzo answered in his usual harmless but sarcastic tone, "We were hoping you could shed light on that brother."

Munkustrap glared at Alonzo for his less than polite attitude towards the subject and intervened, "What Alonzo means is, we have not seen him. You were the only one we found."

"Where did you find me?" The Rum Tum Tugger questioned, not remembering clearly.

"I did, just inside the junkyard, you collapsed before I could say anything to you," Plato answered nervously, he did not like the tension within the confined space and wanted to leave soon. The Rum Tum Tugger looked at him carefully and after a few seconds he nodded simply and then attempted to get up again.

"What are you doing? You're hurt!" exclaimed Demeter. The Rum Tum Tugger forced a lopsided smile but grimanced afterwards, "I know Demeter, but I cant just lay around to get better when Misto is in danger." He took a step and then clutched his stomach. The long gash in his side had reopened after starting to heal and was now oozing blood again, he fell to the floor in a heap of fur and again groaned.

"You are defiantly NOT moving again until Jenny takes a look at you." Munkustrap said sternly.

Tugger rolled his eyes, "Don't use the kitten voice on me Munk, no one can order me around." He went to move again but a shrill voice periced the air, "Rum Tum Tugger stop moving at once or I shall have to stop you myself" It was Jennyanydots, right on time. The shocked look on The Rum Tum Tugger's face was enough to get a laugh out of Alonzo and even a ghost of a smile on Munkustrap's face. Tugger had stopped moving.


	6. Plots and Spies

After the Ball

Author's notes: Hey everyone! Thanks for your quick feedback, its lovely to know people are wanting to read this, even if it means I have to write extra quickly to keep up with it all. Morph- Thanks for the Macavity encouragement, I really need it so I can write him well. I've also been toying with idea of Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer turning up, I couldn't just have them leaving abruptly could I?

Jemima-luvah- You know, you're right about Macavity, he needs to be less well spoken I think (though I do love to write like that, I hate the modern style of writing really). I'll have to look deep inside my evil side to find out how to write Macavity's role! Thanks for reviewing too! Just a girl in crystal- Congratulations! You get my rather pathetic review award for the last chapter! I chose you because you inspired me and was just plain great! Thank you!

XXXX

Macavity had returned to Mistoffelees whilst the small black cat was sleeping. The ginger cat entered to find that his captive was curled in a tight protective ball in the furthest corner of the room, shivering from the cold but still obviously suffering slightly from the fever and minor injuries he had acquired in the pervious 24 hours. Annoyance welled up inside the napoleon of crime and he quickly closed the gap between himself and the sleeping tom, careful not to make a single sound. He looked closely at Mistoffelees and wondered from the scrunched up look on his face what the small tom was dreaming of. In any case he didn't really care that much and so in the next moment he delivered a swift kick to his side. A dull thudding was heard followed by a pain filled yelp and then a sharp laboured intake of breath. Mistoffelees, who was previously enduring a nightmare of most epic proportion had woken to a terrible pain in his ribs and opened his eyes to the cause of such pain, both mentally and physically- Macavity.

Keeping a slow and steady breathing pattern Mistoffelees gained his footing with nothing more than a slight wince, he dared not look directly at Macavity and so settled for a small smudge of dirt on the floor. His shaken figure hardly reached the shoulders of the looming cat in front of him and it unnerved him even more. Swallowing nervously he asked the question he had been itching to ask since he had woken up from unconsciousness.

"Where is The Rum Tum Tugger?" his voice pitiful and almost drowned out by the size of the room and his own heartbeat caused Macavity to laugh.

"I should've known you would've asked that first. Jellicles and their 'concern' for each other," he spat then went on, "I'm an honourable cat, I did what I said I would do and let him go crawling back to his junkyard." Relief swept over Mistoffelees' face at these words.

"Whether he is going to survive the next few days is another matter," Macavity added with thought, smirking. Mistoffelees looked like he was about to reply when Macavity cut him off sharply, "enough questions!" he barked and lifted a paw menacingly. "I'm here to discuss your services to me."

xxx

It was assumed by Munkustrap that Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer had left the junkyard to get away from the affairs concerning Macavity. Munkustrap guessed that their long line of contacts had to be connected to the napoleon of crime in some way or another. Well he was half right. Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer did indeed have a long line of contacts in which Macavity was connected to, after all Macavity knew everyone who was worth knowing. What Munkustrap failed to realise was that the two twin cats had not fled from the junkyard like some of the others. They had actually gone out to find one of their most reliable albeit most dangerous sources. They knew about Mistoffelees and they wanted to help.

Rumpleteazer sniffed the air and tiptoed down a shady alley situated near the junkyard. Seeing a small window ledge above her, she leapt onto it gracefully and sat herself comfortably down. Her colourings may have been bright and cheerful but she seemed to blend in pretty well with the darkened shadows. She sniffed again and narrowed her eyes, she could smell that someone was near by, but she just couldn't see where

"That you?" she asked clearly, her thick accent loud and echoed in the alley. Nothing. Curiously, she let herself down from the ledge and paced a little way towards the dead end of the alley, where trash cans were sprewn about the place, clearly forgotten and full. She looked closely and then jumped as a pair of yellow eyes suddenly appeared from the shadows.

The eyes closed again and Rumpleteazer felt exposed. She then saw a rat scurry from under one of the bins but it only made it half way to its destination before squealing and getting pulled further into the shadows.

"Oi, come out now," she ordered, and the eyes appeared again, but this time they were followed by a body. It was hard to make out where the shadows ended and the body began, so dark was the coat of fur. The approaching cat lazily padded up to Rumpleteazer and dropped the dead rat at her feet, "a present for you, Rumpleteazer," this voice was silky but deadly sounding, matching the equally piercing eyes. The female cat glanced at the rat but didn't make a move for it; its killer was dangerous when you took your eyes off of him for more than a few seconds.

"Nah thanks, I'm not hungry," she replied politely. The other cat nodded and then said, "So why have you come to speak with me? And where is your brother?" The cats tone turned from conversational to slightly bitter when it came to mentioning Mungojerrie. Rumpleteazer shrugged, "around somewhere."

"He's never far away from you," The dark cat spat.

"Too right Vincent," came a voice and Rumpleteazer and the other cat looked up to the window ledge. There perched Mungojerrie. He leapt down in the same fashion as Rumpleteazer and stood at her side protectively. Mungojerrie and Vincent had had a strained relationship for a long while. Both recruited by Macavity when kittens, Mungojerrie and Vincent were friendly rivals, however when Vincent had found out about his sister, he had gone after her in hopes of making her his queen. Not wanting his sister to be involved with Macavity or any of the strays, Mungojerrie and Vincent had fought. Mungojerrie had won and left soon after, though Macavity was furious at his abandonment and was after him and Rumpleteazer ever since.

Now Vincent was their reliable inside information, but this was probably only because he got to see Rumpleteazer and to keep her from harm. Mungojerrie was particularly touchy at this, and even more so when he found that Rumpleteazer seemed to have a soft spot for Vincent anyway.

Vincent only nodded at Mungojerrie before asking them the same question, "Why do you want to talk to me?"

"We think ya know why Vincent," Mungojerrie replied, "Mistoffelees."

"Ah the magical cat," the black cat registered, "he's Macavity's big plan at the moment."

"Why did ya attack The Rum Tum Tugger and Mistoffelees!" yelled Rumpleteazer suddenly, angry at his laid back approach and lack of interest in such an important matter. She unsheathed her claws irritably. "What has that fleabag Macavity done to em?"

Vincent narrowed his eyes, "well The Rum Tum Tugger got what he deserved," he pointed out. Rumpleteazer growled and leapt at him, not thinking about anything else. They rolled together on the floor, Rumpleteazer scoring a hit on Vincent's leg. Vincent used his weight to position himself on top of her and pinned her front paws down so she was unable to move. Mungojerrie then grabbed Vincent by the neck and heaved him off of her. She got up and growled but did nothing else.

"Where's Mistoffelees held?" Mungojerrie asked, breaking the stony silence.

"At Macavity's hideout of course"

"Where's that?"

"I couldn't tell you that, he would know." Vincent was not a cowardly cat, but anyone who defied Macavity and he found out, well that was not worth mentioning. He often wondered why Mungojerrie was still alive. Mungojerrie seemed to realise this too and didn't push it.

"Is he ok?" Rumpleteazer piped up in a worried tone. Vincent looked at her with what appeared to be sympathetic eyes. "He's not dead, if that helps. He's pretty beat up from what I could find out, but otherwise ok." He saw the sorrowful look Rumpleteazer gave him and the furious anger Mungojerrie was trying to hide, "You won't need to find Macavity's hideout anyway. I think he's going to come to you."

xxx

The extent of The Rum Tum Tugger's wounds (many cuts and bruises, a broken rib and an extremely hurt ego) meant that the lion cat was restricted to the comfort of his bachelor pad. "Sadly," he thought, "his pad would not be in any working order and that comfortable is all very well if only it were not so boring." An hour or so had passed since Jennyanydots had left. Strict instructions were left to Munkustrap, making sure that The Rum Tum Tugger could not damage himself even further. This only caused him to protest further however, and both Munkustrap and Demeter had quite a struggle to keep him lying down and rested.

"Tugger, please just lay still or your wounds won't heal," Demeter pleaded whilst kneeling down next to the injured tom before her. The Rum Tum Tugger winked and flirtingly replied, "For you Deme, anything" As Demeter returned an innocent smile a loud din could be heard from outside. The two cats looked toward the entrance of the room although they both knew who it was to enter way before the figure could pop up through the entrance hole.

"I don't care what Jenny says, I'm going to see him if it's the last thing I do. That good for nothing tom has hurt me for the last time, going and getting beat up like that!" The owner of the loud strong voice emerged from outside.

"Bombalurina," The Rum Tum Tugger croaked half heartedly. Angry expressions on the beautiful red queen immediately melted into one of worry as she took in the sorry sight of her crush. She literally flew to him, tears bursting from her eyes and she landed on the floor next to his chest, crying his name in a pitiful voice.

"Oh Tugger, I was so worried that he had killed you," she moaned into his still matted hair. He responded by hissing in pain, she immediately left his chest and looked on in confusion.

"Broken ribs," he said simply, giving her a fully genuine smile; the first he had given since his capture. She sniffed, wiped her eyes and then kissed him full on the lips. His shocked face was enough to cause Demeter to laugh and Bombalurina smile cheekily. Quickly, The Rum Tum Tugger corrected himself and replied.

"Didn't know you cared Bomby?"

She snorted, "Well if not me, then who else would bother?" The Rum Tum Tugger too tired to become absorbed in one of their famous arguments laughed lightly before breaking out in a fit of coughs and then Munkustrap appeared. Now with four cats in the trunk of the old blue ford, it was rather cramped. Usually suited for two who could comfortably sleep, the large Rum Tum Tugger was taking up half the space and the other three had to stoop in order to fit in.

"Munkustrap looks serious, more than normal at least," Tugger thought to himself as his brother settled down next to Demeter without taking his deep eyes off of the ground.

"I've just spoken to Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer; they seem to know that Macavity has Mistoffelees."

"Well I knew that much Munk," The Rum Tum Tugger groaned sarcastically, "but what about getting him back? Where is he?" Clearing his throat in what The Rum Tum Tugger could only think of as an awkward gesture, Munkustrap replied somewhat slowly.

"They say that they don't know where Macavity's hideout is." This earned an annoyed snort from Bombalurina, "anyway," Munkustrap carried on eyeing Bombalurina criticizing her previous action, "even though Macavity's hideout is still unknown, Mungojerrie informs me that Macavity will come to us."

There was a long silence and Demeter's body shivered in fear. The Rum Tum Tugger actually snarled (it was very out of character for him), "That makes no sense, why would he come here when he has what he wants, it's a trick."

Demeter had found this talk all too much and left with a sigh, Bombalurina close on her tail. The two brothers were left in a surprising stony silence. First to break it was The Rum Tum Tugger.

"So what's the plan Munky? Let Macavity saunter in here with Mistoffelees still hostage? He'll not come alone you know, something's gotta be up" His sarcastic tone was almost painful to Munkustrap's ears.

"What can I do Tugger? You know him, he could turn up at any time, just remember the Jellicle Ball," he replied.

"Well we'll just have to fight him, get rid of him once and for all!" The Tugger argued. Munkustrap said nothing and turned away, but before he left he stated one thing. "I will speak to Old Deuteronomy on this matter, he will know what to do." The silver tom then departed leaving The Rum Tum Tugger to dwell in his own thoughts and self pity. Before he fell into a fitful sleep he could not help but wonder that Macavity may actually pull his stunt off this time.


	7. Revelations

After the Ball

Author's Note: I'm SO unbelievably sorry for not updating sooner. Even though I'm currently in my 16 week holiday from school (though nearing the end of that-typical) I have not found the time or motivation to write any more. However your reviews kept coming in and so I thought it was only fair that I update. I would just like to warn you though, because I am having a writer's block, this chapter may not be up to scratch with the others, so please! Be gentle with it!

I'd like to thank all the people who reviewed. Krissy4, mrmistoffelees, Robin Gurl, and JD.

A special thanks for just a girl in crystal who really took some time to review and also Kitty who reviewed a few times; I wanted to try and finish this chapter so you would have something to read when you got back from boot camp!

XXXX

"First off I would like to state that my terms are not to be taken lightly. If you do betray that annoying Jellicle trait of yours and disobey my orders I will make sure you suffer an excruciating end."

Mistoffelees pondered this statement nervously. His mind was screaming at him to agree with anything. Anything to delay another onset of abuse, and yet, his heart (the largest part of him metaphorically speaking) was battling to stand up and fight, it was what Munkustrap would do, or Tugger if he was still here. Lack of courage and strength paralysed him for now. Instead he merely answered,

"What terms would these be Macavity?"

Instead of answering this question directly, the Napoleon of crime took an elongated route around the subject. "The Jellicle Ball," he started, "That night should've been mine! Yet there was one cat who defied me that well earned victory. It wasn't my brother Munkustrap or even any of the others that tried to fight me; it was typical of them to do so. No it was a rather pathetic kitten who managed to snatch away my prize. YOU!" The roaring noise of Macavity's voice was the most terrifying noise Mistoffelees had ever heard and he flinched at the harshness of it.

"It was YOU who took Deuteronomy away, YOU who denied me control of the tribe and YOU who has defied me, and I let no one defy me, NO ONE!" Macavity grabbed the fur at Mistoffelees neck and lifted the trembling figure off the floor.

"What makes you so different?" Macavity asked more to himself and in a scarily calm tone. His eyes roamed Mistoffelees' body for answers. No answer.

"As I thought, there is no difference…" He dropped the smaller cat. Macavity's mind then wandered into deep thought. This cat, Mistoffelees, was different, very different. His magic, so…unique in a cat and so strong. He had often come across mystical cats such as the Jellicle twins, however, never had he found someone like his current captive. The only other he knew of such powers was himself, however doubt clouded his senses- from what he had seen and sensed from Mistoffelees was a brilliant power, one that was undeveloped but still there. If Mistoffelees realised this and controlled his gift, it could very well mean the end to his reign of terror. This he did not want.

Mistoffelees shakily registered Macavity's eyes becoming unfocused and thought that he must be thinking about something, most likely his fate. This lasted for but a second and then Mistoffelees was dropped back onto the dusty floor.

"You are to be my prisoner and slave for the rest of your miserable life, or until I get bored of you and terminate you myself. When I take over the Jellicle tribe you will do nothing to stop me."

This caused a reaction from the conjurer.

"Macavity! You swore to me that you would not harm the Jellicles if I was to submit," Mistoffelees' voice was strained and offended.

Macavity was quick to reply, "Wrong, I said I would spare my brother, The Rum Tum Tugger's life. I mentioned nothing about the Jellicles. When it comes to my leadership over the tribe, The Rum Tum Tugger will be kept alive just as I promised." Mistoffelees gave a cry of mixed anger and despair.

"You have tricked me Macavity! You led me to believe that the Jellicle's would be safe."

"And then what use would that of been to me?" countered Macavity with an evil grin. He enjoyed the tear that formed at his captive's eye and fell to form a clear streak on his bloodied face. On that note Macavity left, bored of toying with the emotions of the young tom. Mistoffelees merely sat in his corner fighting back quiet sobs throughout the duration of the night.

XXXXX

Silently creeping back from the alley to Macavity's headquarters was easy enough. Entering was even easier as every cat in the place knew Vincent and his reputation of being one of the boss' favourites and most deadly. Grumbuskin watched him pass into a private room, then made his way toward Macavity's room of business. He entered to find Macavity speaking with a young female cat who was obviously nervous about the situation. Grumbuskin's boss took note of his entrance and then said, "Well then, we shall meet again soon, run along," he gave the female cat a harsh kiss and let her scurry off out of the room.

"What is it Grumbuskin?" Macavity asked. The second in command did not answer right away. Instead he examined his boss' mood to decide whether or not to tell of his suspicions to him. Uncharacteristically Macavity appeared to be in good spirits and Grumbuskin figured his meeting with the prisoner went well. It was this factor which finally urged him to speak.

"Vincent just came back, he didn't inform anyone where he was going," Grumbuskin explained. Macavity shrugged, "so? Vincent often wanders on his own; he's not one to be questioned of where he goes."

"Well I reckon he came from the direction of the Junkyard, I don't trust 'im Boss, why would he be skulking round there?"

Macavity pondered this. Grumbuskin was not often wrong and had never given him cause to disbelieve his second in command. Then again, neither had Vincent- his most prized assassin.

"Have someone follow him next time he leaves, make sure its someone good, he knows when hes being tracked." The orange and red tom ordered, his light cheery mood literally flying out of the window.

"I'll see to it meself," Grumbuskin barked seriously, and then departed swiftly, not wanting to aggravate his boss anymore. When he had gone, Macavity turned to the shattered window and stared out dangerously. He decided to put his plan into action sooner rather than later.

XXXXX

A few days passed. Seemingly normal and lazy, just like any other day, but for the fact that one member of the Jellicle tribe was still missing. This, of course, could not go unnoticed for so long. True Mistoffelees was often ignored and could get away with leaving in his most aloof manner, but the battered appearance of The Rum Tum Tugger combined with this only caused a mild panic to wash over the tribe. The Rum Tum Tugger himself had received much attention from not only the queens, but the toms as well. A memorable visit was when Tumblebrutus had nervously asked him if Macavity's eyes had glowed a deep red colour, as the stories said. The Tugger replied that not only did his eyes light up sinisterly, but his teeth grew pointed and his claws lengthened and curled. Young Tumble's eyes widened in shock and shivered involuntarily, then, The Rum Tum Tugger burst into a fit of laughter, causing the young cat to blush foolishly.

Other than that rare occurrence, the lion cat was not able to enjoy his freedom, focusing only on Mistoffelees and how he was doing, if in fact he was still alive. More than once, The Rum Tum Tugger had desperately tried to send a mental message to his friend, feeling utterly stupid and kittenish. He knew he didn't have a scrap of mystic powers; although, he forced himself to believe that if he was to try hard enough, maybe he could make Mistoffelees recognise his presence. His small black and white friend was very in tune with all that stuff.

In times where he wasn't thinking of Mistoffelees, he occupied himself with the task of annoying Jennyanydots and Munkustrap (his favourite past time). Constantly rambling about Macavity's trap, Munkustrap was near the end of his tether. Recently, he had snapped at his brother for suggesting every possible scenario under the sun.

"Tugger," he had said, "You concentrate on getting better, saving your energy by not talking, and as protector of this tribe, I will sort out Macavity."

So he had reserved his energy, and it had paid off. For now, The Rum Tum Tugger was able to stand! On the third day of his recovery, he had emerged from the den, thinner and rougher than the queens could think possible, but still upright, and quite stable. Surface injuries such as the black eyes and minor scratches had vanished, leaving The Rum Tum Tugger looking slightly better than when he had first been captured.

The fourth (and present day) he was in the junkyard clearing with the others and surrounded by Jemima, Bombalurina, Tumblebrutus and Pouncivil (all the other queens such as Electra had been ushered away back to their owner's house). Bombalurina, lying by his side, Jemima sitting not too far away from them- merely watching, and the two brother toms continually asking questions.

Plato was on watch with Alonzo, and the young Asparagus was sent to fetch the Rumpus cat and Ademetus for backup. Demeter and Munkustrap currently were nowhere to be found. This was how Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer found the yard when they finally returned.

"Where have you been all this time?" Alonzo demanded as soon as they set a paw in the perimeter. The black and white patched tom leapt down from his post leaving Plato to watch the scene passively. Mungojerrie raised his front paws defensively,

"Whoa, if I had thought I was gonna get this sorta welcome I would 'ave not bothered turnin' up!" he retorted, brushing past Alonzo cockily. Merely sighing, Rumpleteazer ignored the two and spied The Rum Tum Tugger surrounded by his 'fans'. She waved and shouted, "Oi!" before bounding over merrily.

"Nice to see ya out n' about Tugger!" she greeted in a bouncy tone. He raised himself so he was leaning on his elbows, then he winked, but said nothing. At that moment Mungojerrie jogged up behind his twin sister, sporting a rather repressed look of annoyance on his visage. It now seemed as if the lazy atmosphere had died causing the younger cats to grow uneasy.

"Well, as patches over there," Mungojerrie motioned to The Rum Tum Tugger's brother Alonzo, "is not gonna listen to us, I'll tell ya." The Rum Tum Tugger's ears pricked curiously.

"Yeah? What's that?"

"It's about Mistoffelees," Blurted Rumpleteazer watching as the cool face of the lion cat fell immediately into one of concern. Mungojerrie shot his sister a look clearly describing disbelief.

"Well, we know he's alive n that Macavity 'as 'im," She continued.

"But don't ask us where that is, we dunno ourselves," finished Mungojerrie.

The Rum Tum Tugger had now gained his footing and was looking about excitedly. Bombalurina had also got up and attempted to calm him down while the kittens looked on amazed at the events unfolding. The twin burglars appeared troubled though.

"We got reason ta believe Macavity has 'im involved in some sort of plan though. I reckon as a weapon or something," Mungojerrie countered soberly, his usual grin replaced with a dark frown. Macavity was never a joyful topic with him.

"A weapon! That's stupid, Mistoffelees would never do anything to hurt us," Jemima argued quickly. Other cats looked at her; shocked that she would throw herself into the conversation like that.

A memory that had abandoned The Rum Tum Tugger's mind had just then returned, along with a feeling resembling guilt.

"That's not entirely true Jemima," he said softly, his mane falling into his eyes as if to hide his guilty look. "I just remembered before I was knocked unconscious that Macavity wanted Mistoffelees to agree to something." He shook his head, as if trying to remember more. After a while of silence, he glanced up to find the curious glances of those around him boring into his body. The sudden shock of having Mistoffelees agree to stay in Macavity's clutches just to save his miserable hide was too much for him to bear and he found that he couldn't look anyone in the eye. Grumpily Bombalurina yelled after him as he pushed past them all and ran as best he could out of the junkyard and toward the only place he knew he could get help- his father's, Old Deuteronomy's.

XXXXX

Sodden bread and dirty water was set out for Mistoffelees to eat and drink. Even though the food resembled clumps of coal, he devoured it ravenously and then turned to the water and lapped it up. Afterwards, he sat back exhausted at the effort of merely getting up. Slowly but surely, however, his energy returned to him, his magic even made itself known again, albeit in very small quantities. It seemed to Mistoffelees that finally he had received a stroke of luck. Lying back, he could feel his strength coming back, first in his legs and then sprouting into his chest and finally reaching his neck and head.

The power accompanying his strength prodded at him mentally. The beginnings of his magic preserves were giving him ideas; ideas of escape from this horrible prison Macavity had subjected him to, however, he once again remembered his oath to the crime lord, he was to stay in Macavity's clutches by his own free will in order for his best friend The Rum Tum Tugger to be set free and kept alive.

"But for how long will that be?" Mistoffelees reflected bitterly, clenching his paws in anger. With these thoughts buzzing in his head he could not even hope to catch some sleep, so he sat in the most comfortable position he could manage staring longingly at the rustic door. He would find a way out of this situation one way or another.

XXXXX

"Munkustrap, I can't help but feel that something bad is going to happen, like your brother said," The quiet voice of Demeter drifted to Munkustrap's ears as they strolled. The pair had decided that the housecats who were absent from the junkyard should be warned of Mistoffelees' disappearance and the attack on their Rum Tum Tugger.

Demeter's worried confession did not surprise him in the least. There had been history between his evil brother and his mate, one he himself was not fully sure of. All he knew was that Macavity had shown an interest in Demeter back when the four brothers lived as kittens in the junkyard. As Macavity grew older and more obsessed with playing his mind games, he would taunt Demeter (more so than the other cats) until one day he left the junkyard forever, but not after he had cornered her; trying to get her to come with him. That was where Munkustrap jumped to the rescue but Demeter had been scarred that day and nervous about the Napoleon of Crime ever since.

"Its Macavity isn't it?" Her mate asked wearily. Demeter nodded.

Heavily sighing, Munkustrap suddenly appeared very tired and run down. His usual confident manner was lost for once and he admitted to Demeter, something he would normally not dare to consider, "Macavity has gone too far this time. The Rum Tum Tugger says he has to pay but I just can't do that to him…I just…can't" Demeter looked upon him sadly and moved a little closer to rub her face against his cheek. He didn't even process her presence but stared ahead.

"I know that when the time comes Munkustrap," Demeter whispered, "You will make the right decision. You fear that you will take the wrong path every time something like this happens, you don't seem to realise that you are a brilliant protector and that no cat could ever argue otherwise. No cat apart from yourself of course." She nudged him again and he turned to her, an obvious comeback fresh on his lips, however Demeter's determined face stopped him. Her pretty face was set into the most serious yet loving expression, that he found he could not deny that she had faith in him to protect the tribe. This brought a small smile to his lips and he returned the intimate gesture and they proceeded to go back to the Junkyard, to find (once they arrived) that The Rum Tugger was still away


End file.
